Former Terrapin quarterback Sam Hollenbach usually prefers the Speed Channel series Pinks when he’s going to relax and watch some reality television.

But the Washington Redskin made an exception June 12, showing up at Silver Spring’s AFI Silver Theatre for the red-carpet premier of the second season of Terrapins Rising, a reality series focusing on the Terp football team.

The 10-episode season began Tuesday on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and continues each Tuesday through Aug.19 at 9:30 p.m. preceded by a re-air of the previous episode.

“It’s fun because I can appreciate it,” Hollenbach said. “I know what they’re going through. I’ll see certain things on the show and know how the guys are feeling.”

The show, which tracks the team from winter workout sessions in February through spring practice, doesn’t just appeal to former Terps.

It has quickly become a valuable selling tool for the football program. Terrapins Rising was awarded the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators’ gold award for 2007.

Coach Ralph Friedgen said airing the show in the summer is a perfect lead-up to the actual season in the fall.

“The timing is very good because a lot of kids are making up their mind where they’re going to visit and even where they’re going to go to school,” Friedgen said. “Even though we’re not making a recruiting pitch, we’re still in view of [potential recruits].”

The program was originally conceived by Senior Associate Athletics Director Brian Ullman as a four-year series to track the careers of a single Terps recruiting class. But its popularity could change that.

Executive Producer Jess Atkinson, a former Terp and Redskin kicker, said subsequent seasons are necessary to try to tell all the great stories on the team and track the changes in players from year to year.

“I don’t see any reason why it can’t continue,” Ullman said. “In one year it became such an integral part of recruiting and what fans expect from the program. I really think it’s going to have legs.”

Hollenbach said his only regret is that they waited until the year after he left to start producing the show. And Atkinson, who worked in video production for the Athletics Department during Hollenbach’s time with the Terps, said Hollenbach would have made the perfect subject because of his genuine displays of emotion.

“He had some tough times, but he always would stand up,” Atkinson said. “He was always talking. He’s a great kid.”

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