Darrius Heyward-Bey was put in an unusual position Saturday. After making big plays, pitching in a breakout performance and being carried off the field on the shoulders of fans in past weeks, Heyward-Bey was on the sideline in the second half against Boston College.
ESPN camera shots often showed the redshirt freshman receiver close up as he stood with a towel draped over his head. Heyward-Bey watched as little-used Nolan Carroll stepped onto the field and No. 3 wide receiver Danny Oquendo slid into his “Z” position.
Then, he and everyone else watched as Carroll, Oquendo and other Terrapin receivers dropped would-be-touchdowns and made mental errors, eliminating any chance of a comeback. Coach Ralph Friedgen said his team had seven drops – three of which would have been touchdown catches.
Those blunders didn’t help the Terps’ cause against Boston College and must be corrected if they hope to beat No. 20-ranked Wake Forest on Saturday.
Heyward-Bey’s status for the game is unclear. Friedgen said yesterday he’d rather not go into injuries but said last weekend Heyward-Bey suffered a concussion late in the first half.
“I’m hoping he’ll be back,” Friedgen said Sunday. “The doctors seem to think he will be, but we’ll see.”
Without the dependable and often spectacular Heyward-Bey, the Terps (8-3, 5-2 ACC) couldn’t mount an offensive attack even to challenge Boston College. Senior quarterback Sam Hollenbach has made Heyward-Bey one of his favorite targets, as the redshirt freshman had four catches and 37 yards before he went down. Hollenbach wasn’t afraid to admit just how big of an impact Heyward-Bey’s exit had on the loss or how important it will be to get him back.
“It’s tough when you’re in a situation like we were in, trying to get back into a game and not having a deep threat like that,” Hollenbach said. “We’re going to need him to come back for next week and hopefully be healthy.”
Even before Heyward-Bey got hurt, Friedgen had lamented his team’s lack of wide receiver depth. Heyward-Bey, Danny Oquendo and Isaiah Williams make up the big three – the only three – as senior Drew Weatherly has struggled with injury problems. The trio has combined for 89 of 90 receptions made by wide receivers.
Friedgen said Weatherly wants to play but is still hurt. If Heyward-Bey is unable to play against Wake Forest (9-2, 5-2 ACC), the Terps would probably turn to Carroll for some significant action and increase Oquendo’s workload.
Younger receivers like Stephen Smalls, Adrian Cannon and Emani Lee-Odai have yet to make enough progress to warrant any playing time – something Friedgen worries about.
“I’m really disappointed some of these kids haven’t developed,” Friedgen said, adding that he won’t be able to change his wide receiver situation this week.
Hollenbach’s statistics (27-of-42 with two interceptions) weren’t impressive, but Friedgen said his senior quarterback couldn’t have thrown some of his passes in any better spots.
The loss at Boston College has made the Terps big fans of Miami this week, as the Hurricanes must beat the Eagles for the Terps to have any chance of winning the ACC’s Atlantic Division. A Miami win clinches nothing, as the Terps must also win Saturday to punch their ticket to Jacksonville, Fla.
Though he conceded he and the wide receivers put in some extra work at practice Monday, Hollenbach stressed yesterday that dropped passes can’t linger as memories.
“It’s a confidence thing with receivers a lot of the time,” Hollenbach said. “They need to know that if there is a dropped pass, there’s nobody that’s lost any confidence in them, especially me.”
After winning five straight games by a combined 13 points, Friedgen and his players acknowledged the team has a very small margin of error. Tossing in an injury to a playmaker like Heyward-Bey makes that window even smaller.
Along with Hollenbach, senior running back Josh Allen will be playing his final game at Byrd Stadium. Allen is 42 yards away from 2,000 for his career, and though he said he hadn’t thought about it, he knows the Terps need to do something in the running game after averaging 61 yards per game the past three games.
Even without the kind of consistent running game the Terps had early in the season and possibly without a star wide receiver, Hollenbach wouldn’t make any excuses. He also offered up a mantra that could prove extremely valuable if the Terps are without Heyward-Bey in what could be a division title game.
“The bottom line is,” Hollenbach said, “we gotta make plays with the guys that are in there.”
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
