Stefon Diggs was heated. The Terrapins football wide receiver had heard the groans and read the pessimistic statuses littering the Internet.
Enough was enough, he figured. It was time to make a statement.
So Diggs penned a Twitter speech so passionate and so persuasive it could’ve made the two candidates in Tuesday’s presidential election blush. For about a two-hour span on Sunday night, the Terps’ star playmaker rallied a distraught fan base. He implored supporters to stay loyal to the Terps and affirmed his trust in his teammates and coaching staff.
Never mind the Terps had just lost Caleb Rowe to an ACL tear, their third quarterback in two weeks — and fourth on the year — to go down for the season. Never mind coach Randy Edsall would have no choice but to start a scout-team linebacker under center against Georgia Tech tomorrow.
The Terps would just have to work harder.
“I bought in,” Diggs tweeted. “I don’t give up on those who support me.”
Diggs knows something some Terps teams have forgotten in past years. He understands when adversity mounts, there’s no time for wavering. He understands trying circumstances have a way of showing a group’s true colors. Does it wilt under the mounting pressure of lengthy injury reports and shortened depth charts? Or does it unite?
Given what they’ve shown thus far this season, odds are Diggs’ teammates will follow the freshman’s lead. Odds are they’ll face Saturday’s challenge head-on and play until the final whistle sounds. Odds are they won’t allow a depleted roster to temper their expectations.
It’s what they’ve done all year, after all. When they entered the fourth quarter of a Sept. 1 season opener against lowly William & Mary down, 6-0, they didn’t simply crumble under the pressure of a potentially embarrassing home loss. They strung together a touchdown drive, and escaped with the narrow victory.
Heck, even in losses the Terps have shown they’re a far cry from the disenchanted group that staggered through a 2-10 nightmare last season.
There was that Sept. 22 matchup at unforgiving West Virginia when the Terps arrived four-touchdown underdogs, and tested the then-No. 8 Mountaineers until the latter stages of the second half.
There was also last week, when the Rowe-led Terps managed to climb out of a 13-0 third-quarter deficit. Freshman miscues ultimately resulted in a 20-17 heartbreaker, but the statement had already been made: This team is unfazed.
“They are doing all the things that we are asking them to do,” Edsall said after losing to the Eagles.
This week has been no different. The Terps have rallied around their latest answer under center, freshman Shawn Petty, since they sat slack-jawed during a team meeting and learned they were suddenly without a scholarship quarterback.
The four sidelined signal callers have helped reintroduce Petty to a side of the ball that, up until two weeks ago, he thought he was done with completely. Defensive players have kept tabs on the offense, making sure practices are running smoothly. And, falling in line with Diggs’ Sunday soliloquy, the Terps have expressed support and unity via Twitter.
“Everything that we want is still in front of us,” wide receiver Nigel King said Wednesday. “We can’t worry about the past.”
Diggs is right. No matter what happens on the field tomorrow, this team has bought in.
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