Campbell, McCollough Not Expected Back This Week
A few quick updates from Coach Ralph Friedgen’s Sunday teleconference with reporters:
Cornerback Nolan Carroll, a senior captain, underwent surgery on his broken leg late Saturday night. Friedgen said a screw was put into the leg, which Carroll had broken in a similar place in high school. Friedgen said the tape indicates that lineman Derek Drummond inadvertently kicked Carroll’s leg when Carroll swung around in the game.
Friedgen said he does NOT expect to get left tackle Bruce Campbell (turf toe) or Jamari McCollough (foot) back this week. That is significant because it means Maryland will be without three starters, including two in the secondary when it plays Middle Tennessee State. MTSU is no slouch. It uses five wideouts and Friedgen expects his injury-riddled secondary to be supremely tested. Cornerback Cameron Chism played pretty well Saturday, but Friedgen said he will need to step up. It also means that true freshman cornerback Dexter McDougle will not redshirt this season.
Friedgen said linebackers Adrian Moten and Alex Wujciak tackled very well but others, particularly in the secondary, did not. He said players were correctly positioned on JMU quarterback Drew Dudzik’s 70-yard touchdown run, but Maryland missed two tackles on the play. Overall, he felt the defense relaxed after Maryland secured a 21-6 lead in the first half.
Friedgen said he still expects to rotate players on the offensive line. He said Tyler Bowen held up pretty well Saturday, but coaches want to proceed cautiously with Bowen, so he may practice Monday but be held out Tuesday.
Injuries are certainly taking their toll on this young team. I had always felt Maryland needed to get through the Clemson game with a 3-2 record. That means two wins in the next three games, which is possible but perhaps not probable at this point.
By
Eric Prisbell
|
September 13, 2009; 4:57 PM ET
| Category:
Football
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Posted by: SirPelleas | September 13, 2009 5:24 PM
mtsu 31 terps 17
Posted by: carolina1 | September 13, 2009 11:19 PM
I find it interesting that Fridge says that Wujciak and Moten tackled well, despite seeing a number of Cal and JMU guys run right past Wujciak. I know he gets a lot of tackles, but he seems to not be as much of an athlete as is needed.
A lot of the none WaPo Terps blogs have the same view. Would Fridge ever comment on that if asked?
Posted by: ckstevenson | September 14, 2009 9:40 AM
The players' body language was awful during the first half, when we were up 21-6 they were seen joking around, relaxed and taking our opponent as lightly as any team I've ever witnessed. It was as if our entire team thought this was a scrimmage. Several key players spent large chunks of time not even looking at the action on the field.
I've never booed one of my teams before saturday's game. The dropped passes, the missed tackles, the lack of concentration was a direct result of not taking our opponent seriously.
Hopefully they learn their lesson in the next 6 days.
Posted by: Barno1 | September 14, 2009 2:50 PM
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Looking forward to the MTSU prediction thread...