Nine months ago, Sam Hollenbach’s confidence suffered a major jolt.
After throwing two interceptions in a season-ending loss at N.C. State, Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen questioned whether Hollenbach could be the team’s starter given his rash of turnovers late in the season.
Even though his stat line in the season finale included 235 yards and a touchdown, Hollenbach’s interceptions were part of the reason the Terps were watching bowl games from home instead of playing in one.
That individual uncertainty over his job and the Terps’ lack of success weighed on Hollenbach.
“It was obviously tough ’cause I knew that my play had led to that situation,” Hollenbach said. “They never make any guarantees about anything.”
In those nine months, Hollenbach, now a senior, has undergone more than just shoulder surgery. He’s undergone a transformation.
No longer a shaky, unproven gunslinger, Hollenbach has returned as an experienced signal caller and the Terps’ emboldened leader.
This season, Hollenbach will cement his legacy in Terp lore. But the question remains whether he’ll be glorified like bowl game winner Scott McBrien or shunned like 2004 disappointment Joel Statham.
In an attempt to avoid Statham’s fate, Hollenbach worked in the offseason, throwing passes and eyeing film clips with the goal in mind to eliminate the rash of turnovers that clouded his 2005 performance. Trying to work on timing with the Terps’ young receivers, he ran passing drills with them Tuesdays and Thursdays over the summer.
Hoping to shed himself of the mistake-ridden reputation, he had tapes made of his highlights and his blunders and repeatedly studied them with some help from Friedgen.
Studying his own breakdowns, Hollenbach felt mixed reactions about his up-and-down season.
“I really felt good about a lot of the stuff that happened,” he said. “But then there were a handful of plays in each game that, if I could have eliminated them, we really would’ve had a better team.”
Humbled by the turnovers and comforted by some stellar plays, Hollenbach believes the mechanical and mental issues that plagued him last season are correctable.
So far, his teammates said, he’s fixed the physical elements.
“Knowing when to throw the ball, when to hit a receiver coming out of his break, that aspect of his game got a whole lot better,” running back Keon Lattimore said. “Just feeling confident where he’s throwing the ball.”
Friedgen, who stresses not turning the ball over, said Hollenbach would be one of, if not the best, quarterbacks in the ACC if he succeeds in getting rid of the interceptions.
“I’m really kind of rooting for him because I think he’s been maligned a little bit,” Friedgen said. “People don’t realize some of the really good plays that he has made. And some of the plays he hasn’t made, or the turnovers, I think have kind of outweighed the others.”
Statistics show that. Hollenbach ranked fifth in the conference in passing efficiency and second in passing yards per game, but also tossed 15 interceptions.
Having come to grips with his inconsistent play, Hollenbach has matured mentally within the offense. Friedgen said his quarterback is so well-versed that he’s bored in meetings and added that he would be disappointed if Hollenbach didn’t have a great year.
“I really need to be the best quarterback on the field,” Hollenbach said. “What he expects and what I expect is the same thing: that I play within the boundaries of the system.”
All indications are that Friedgen and Hollenbach are on the same wavelength in regard to more than just expectations. The two talked extensively over the summer, and Friedgen said he and his quarterback have a different, closer relationship from the meetings and the time they’ve spent together.
At the Terps’ annual media day Aug. 7, Hollenbach voiced confidence that he was the leader of the team – even given Friedgen’s frustration at the end of the season. Hollenbach has since backed up that premise by maintaining a firm grip on the No. 1 quarterback job.
“We really weren’t the same without him,” Friedgen said when Hollenbach missed a morning practice because of leg cramps.
And while Jordan Steffy has shown Friedgen he possesses starting talent, one thing is clear: This is Hollenbach’s team. Even though he hasn’t thought about what his legacy will be, Hollenbach can envision living up to expectations.
And if Hollenbach does make up for last year’s transgressions?
“We really have a chance for something special,” he said. “If something special happens, who knows what could happen as far as the players here and how we’re remembered.”
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
