Terrapin running back Gary Douglas took a handoff and was immediately engulfed by a wall of his defensive teammates.
As designed in the no-tackling drill, the redshirt freshman soon popped out of the mess and accelerated downfield past a few indifferent teammates.
“Did I blow the whistle?” coach Ralph Friedgen boomed as he charged toward the defensive huddle, his breath hanging visibly in the cool morning air. He was dissatisfied with the defenders who let the reserve back scamper by.
That portion of the drill ended with both the offense and defense taking a lap to the far end of the practice fields.
Although barely 9:30 a.m., the 2009 Terp football season was well under way.
Friedgen kicked off his ninth season as head coach yesterday with the first of 15 spring workouts that will culminate with the annual Red-White Game on April 25.
“This team is young, but there is a lot of talent on it,” said Friedgen, who has compiled a 64-36 record in his eight seasons. “I think we have some talented kids that have become the strength of our team. I enjoy coaching them and I look forward to working with them more.”
That youth – 60 of the Terps’ 85 players have three or more years of eligibility left – will take center stage this spring as they try to replace 31 seniors and leading wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who entered the NFL Draft.
Trying to step into leadership voids left by big personalities such as center Edwin Williams and Heyward-Bey, will be 14 seniors, including quarterback Chris Turner, who begins the season No. 7 in program history in passing yards.
“A lot of us, we were waiting our turn to be leaders,” said senior defensive tackle Travis Ive, who Friedgen lauded for his maturity. “A lot of us already are leaders. I think that we’re ready to take on the challenges of leading this team.”
The Terps are also adjusting to a pair of new coordinators. Special teams coordinator Charles Bankins is the third person in three years to fill the post for the Terps. Defensive coordinator Don Brown, who joined the Terps in January after five seasons as head coach at Massachusetts, brings a more traditional 4-3 formation than the Terps played with former coordinator Chris Cosh.
Brown will have to make the most of a depleted linebacking corps. In addition to losing three key contributors to graduation, junior Alex Wujciak, the Terps’ leading tackler last season, will miss the entire spring following offseason knee surgery. Reserve Ben Pooler is also out with an injury, leading the Terps to list junior Drew Gloster, a converted tight end who was ineligible last season, as the starting “Mic” linebacker.
That’s just fine with Brown, who has already inserted his base defensive packages and frequently tells players to “play like your hair is on fire.”
“I don’t care what you did, who you were, this, that,” Brown said. “You live in the past, you die in the present. You’ve got a clean slate. Put your butt on the table and lets crank the thing up and go as hard and tough as you can.”
Another major issue coming into the season is offensive line depth. The Terps lost six key contributors from last season’s line. Left tackle Bruce Campbell, who is sitting out of spring practice will anchor the line with former guard Phil Costa moving to center, but the final three spots will have to be claimed by players with little experience.
With experienced skill players including Turner and All-ACC first-team running back Da’Rel Scott returning, second-year offensive coordinator James Franklin is still confident in his ability to move forward.
“I’d hope we’ll still be able to take steps [in spring practice], because this is year two in the offense,” Franklin said. “We’ll just see how it goes. If it’s an issue, we’ll pull back, but with the offensive line we try to make things as simple as possible.”
Since gaining an extra few weeks of practice by qualifying for the Humanitarian Bowl last season, Friedgen has talked about making great strides in the spring. He again addressed the value of that extra practice yesterday, and the Terp coach feels his young team has the tools to compete in an ACC that has proven inconsistent in recent seasons.
“Part of the joy I get out of coaching is watching guys develop and come on, and that’s what I’m hoping to get out of this group,” Friedgen said. “The way we have to overcome our inexperience is by enthusiasm, is by effort, being fundamentally sound. If we can do those things, we’ll get better as a football team, and we’ll be a good football team next year.”
The process has already begun, even if Friedgen didn’t blow his whistle.
TERP NOTES: In addition to Wujciak and Pooler, fullback Cory Jackson (knee surgery) and wide receiver LaQuan Williams (foot surgery) are among the eight Terps who will miss spring practice. … Among the new number changes for the spring is Davin Meggett, who will switch from No. 41 to No. 8 this season, the number vacated by Heyward-Bey.
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