By Jordan Hansen
Part 8 of the Daily Iowan‘s summer football previews.
Maryland football has been lost in the deep, dark woods of college football since joining the Big Ten two years ago.
Getting turned around in a forest is not fun and I think another group of college students from the state of Maryland would probably agree. At least at this moment:
Lost. Without a map. And little piles of rocks appearing around their tent with something supernatural hunting them.
Terrifying.
It also sort of illustrates the first two years of Maryland’s time in the Big Ten, if you’ll bear with me for a moment. The team faced most of the conference heavyweights by virtue of being in the East Division and also got a number of the stronger teams in West Division during its first seasons as well.
Not a particularly fun place to be. New to a conference and every other team wants to put them in their place. It’s led to a 5-11 mark in Big Ten over the Terrapins’ first two years in the conference, including a truly dreadful 1-7 mark last year.
In fact, after falling to 2-4 and 0-2 in the Big Ten to begin 2015, Randy Edsall was dragged off into the forest, never to be seen or heard from again. (Just kidding, he’s with the Detroit Lions now)
Interim head coach Mike Locksley led the Terrapins for the rest of the season, going 1-5 before being let go at the end of the year.
D.J. Durkin, a recruiting wunderkind who apparently has a whole bunch of spiral notebooks from his time under Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer, has a chance to turn the program around. Maryland made a smart choice to let Edsall go early in the year, which allowed them plenty of time to find a head coach they liked.
Durkin was formally announced on December 2nd and got things going early. Maryland’s 2017 recruiting class is ranked 25th by 247Sports which lives up to his lofty reputation for getting top college athletes to program’s he has worked for.
Next season will very likely be a struggle for the Terrapin coaching staff as they try to get their program headed in the right direction. One of the most pressing issues for the team will be finding a new starting quarterback.
Seniors Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe are the presumptive front-runners for the position, though redshirt freshman Gage Shaffer could have a chance if they are ineffective.
Hills and Rowe split time last year, with neither being particularly effective. Hills threw for 1001 yards along with eight touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Rowe was worse, gaining just 894 yards through the air and was picked off 15 times.
Hills did find some success running the ball, rushing 109 times for 535 yards. His dual threat capability plus his slightly better decision making should give him an advantage in the race, though nothing is for certain.
A smattering of other offensive players also return and whoever the quarterback is, they will have someone to throw too. Running back Brandon Ross graduated as well and that position is still up in the air as well.
Defensively, the Terrapins were among the worst units in the nation. While Maryland’s rushing defense allowed a little over 162 yards per game (54th nationally) and was really the team’s only highlight on that side of the ball.
Edsall and Locksley’s crew ranked 103rd in scoring defense (34.4 points per game) and 104th in passing defense (258.4 yards per game). Those numbers are about as far from “good” as a Power-5 team can get, which perhaps is one of the reasons Durkin — who served as Michigan’s defensive coordinator last year — was brought in.
However, Maryland fans should not expect too much, too quickly. Trying to rush something never ends well for anyone.
Just ask the directors and crew of the second Blair Witch movie.
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