Terp coach Randy Edsall

The Terrapin football team’s seemingly ever-shrinking roster will be without two additional names this fall.

Reserve defensive lineman Zach Kerr and freshman wide receiver Nigel King will be ineligible this season, coach Randy Edsall announced Tuesday.

Kerr, who was held out of spring practice so he could focus on his schoolwork, did not meet NCAA academic standards and will not be eligible for his junior season. His future with the program remains uncertain.

“It’s unfortunate whenever a young man doesn’t fulfill their obligations in the classroom or other areas,” Edsall said of Kerr, who had 21 tackles last season. “And we did what we could do, I did what I could do, in trying to help him.”

King, who forwent his final semester of high school so he could enroll early at this university and practice with the Terps this spring, was ruled ineligible by the NCAA clearinghouse. Edsall said King will have four years of eligibility remaining after this season.

“It’s just really like a redshirt year with Nigel,” Edsall said. “All he’ll do is redshirt. He just can’t compete, so we’ll deal with it … and go ahead and do some things to just make sure he stays in tune with everything.”

A reshuffled depth chart has been anything but a novelty in Edsall’s first offseason as coach. A slew of reserves and fifth-year seniors — including fullback Haroon Brown, running back Gary Douglas and quarterback Tyler Smith — have left the program in recent months, filling the Terps’ two-deep with freshmen and unfamiliar names.

“But you know what, guys will have to step up and move in there,” Edsall said. “It is what it is. I’m not one of those guys who is going to go around and say, ‘Woe is me,’ or anything like that. It’s what it is, and we’ll just go with the people that we have there.”

HITTING THE BOOKS

When Edsall was hired in January to replace a popular coach in Ralph Friedgen, fresh off a Military Bowl blowout, things weren’t nearly as good off the field as they had been on it for the Terps.

Within months, the team lost three scholarships due to substandard performance in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, prompting Edsall to say he was “a little bit shocked about what I saw here from an academic standpoint.”

But the Terps, according to Edsall, have begun to reverse their woes. Edsall said 65 percent of the players got a 2.5 GPA or better last semester.

“I like the direction we’re going,” Edsall said. “We got the program in place to make sure these young men can be successful. Now they’ve got to go do their part, but what we’re doing is giving them every opportunity to be the best they can be in the classroom.”

EXTREME MAKEOVER

Before long, Edsall’s fingerprints will be on more than just his remade roster and coaching staff.

A new multiuse indoor facility could be forthcoming next year, Edsall said, which would be a boon to a Terp program often subject to the vagaries of the weather. The facility would allow Terp teams to practice inside when faced with inclement weather and could also serve as a hub for intramural sports.

Byrd Stadium will also feature a brand-new artificial playing surface by the 2012 season, according to Edsall, who said the field would allow the venue to host a greater number of athletic events year-round.

“We’ve done a lot,” Edsall said, “but, boy, do we have a lot more to continue to go to where we want to go and be who we want to be.”

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