Maryland football quarterback Perry Hills left the game Sept. 17 against Central Florida with a right shoulder injury. A few weeks later, he suffered the same ailment against Penn State, forcing him to sit the next game, too. Then, he missed about three quarters of last weekend’s game against Michigan after enduring another upper-body hit.
Despite his toughness and willingness to push through the pain in his redshirt senior season — and perhaps because of those qualities — Hills’ latest injury came in form a left shoulder injury against Ohio State.
Coach DJ Durkin admitted few players in Hills’ situation would have had the courage to suit up against the Buckeyes, but his outing ended on the Terps’ second drive of the 62-3 loss. Quarterbacks Caleb Rowe and Tyrrell Pigrome played as reserves, but Maryland never established an offensive rhythm in the consecutive blowout losses to Big Ten East powers.
“He’s a fighter, and there’s lot of guys that probably wouldn’t have even been back in there at this point,” Durkin said. “Our offense runs a lot better when Perry’s in there.”
Hills jogged off the field after Buckeyes linebacker Jerome Baker slammed him to the ground on a two-yard rush. He sat on the bench as trainers tended to him, often leaning forward. While the Terps defense tried to slow Ohio State’s offense, he stood up a few times, only to sit back down for more attention.
“It’s definitely rough,” offensive lineman Michael Dunn said. “You hate seeing it. Perry’s a great kid. He’s been through a lot.”
Rowe, meanwhile, warmed up on the sideline and took the field for the next possession. He completed seven of 13 passes for 93 yards and one interception, when he came under duress from a Buckeyes blitz and overthrew his intended target. Marshon Lattimore secured the turnover, and Ohio State drove 54 yards to extend its lead to 35-3 about three minutes later.
Rowe notched three double-digit completions, including a 37-yard connection with wide receiver Levern Jacobs, but he failed to lead the offense into the end zone. His best chance came late in the first frame on third down from the one-yard line.
He appeared to break the goal line on a quarterback sneak — Durkin said after the contest he thought his redshirt senior scored and referees did not provide a full explanation for the decision — but the officials upheld the short ruling after a review. The Terps, trailing 14-0, settled for a field goal.
After halftime, however, Rowe didn’t return. Instead, Pigrome played the final two frames. Durkin wanted to give his freshman experience against one of the nation’s top defense. Plus, he hoped Pigrome could spark the running game using the electric skills he flashed in previous relief appearances.
After all, Maryland’s rushers totaled four yards before the break.
The Terps, though, finished with 43 rushing yards in running back Lorenzo Harrison’s absence for an indefinite suspension as one of three players who violated the student athlete code of conduct, the team announced about an hour before the game. Pigrome managed 14 yards on 10 rushes and finished seven of 11 for 44 yards passing.
After the game, the Terps maintained the rotation under center didn’t affect their performance because they rotate snaps during practice.
“To me, it’s all the same,” wide receiver Teldrick Morgan said. “You’ve just got to catch the ball.”
But Durkin acknowledged the unit’s efficiency under Hills’ lead. Hills had completed all four of his passes for 73 yards against the Wolverines’ top-ranked defense before he left last week, and the Terps hoped he could navigate the Buckeyes’ front Saturday.
But another early departure left the team relying on its reserves in another 50-point loss.
“There’s probably a lot of teams like that in the country — you take their starting quarterback out, things change a little bit,” Durkin said. “It is what it is. That happens in a season, so there’s no whatever. We’ve just got to move on.”
