Over the past several seasons, Maryland quarterbacks haven’t had much luck with staying healthy. Both Tyrrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill are out for the season with torn ACLs, so Max Bortenschlager will make his second career start Saturday at Minnesota.
The Terps haven’t had a quarterback start every game in a season since 2006, and his name was Sam Hollenbach. Cheers to you if you actually knew that.
Bortenschlager is on the list of 15 who have thrown a pass at the position for Maryland since 2007. Here’s our definitive ranking of Maryland’s top signal-callers through the last decade-plus.
15. Josh Portis
Having to miss two seasons doesn’t help someone’s resume. Portis began his college career at Florida, appearing in six games in 2005 before transferring to Maryland. After sitting out a year following the transfer, he was suspended for the 2007 season for getting caught cheating on a pop quiz. When he was finally able to take the field in 2008, he spent most of his time as a substitute before transferring again, this time to D-II school California University of Pennsylvania.
14. Devin Burns
Burns was more of an athlete than a quarterback. He appeared in two games under center before injury, in a 2012 season when the Terps had a carousel at the position. Since he played a lot of his games at wide receiver, there isn’t much of an argument for his case at QB.
13. Daxx Garman
Another high-profile transfer from a big school, Garman came to College Park from Oklahoma State with high expectations. He started eight games for the Cowboys following an injury to J.W. Walsh and came to Maryland the next year after losing the starting spot back to Mason Rudolph. Unfortunately, he didn’t win the quarterback competition for the Terps, either. In 2015, he appeared in just two games, putting up 115 yards and a touchdown.
12. Shane Cockerille
The human Swiss Army knife has seen some time at quarterback when he wasn’t at linebacker and fullback. He started the second half against Indiana in 2015, completing 11 passes for 82 yards. Maryland’s better off with him on the other side of the ball — he ranked second on the team with 108 tackles in 2016.
11. Max Bortenschlager
We haven’t seen much out of Bortenschlager, but granted, he hasn’t had much of a chance yet. In his first college start against Nebraska last season, he threw for only 191 yards in a 28-7 loss. Let’s hope his performance on Saturday can help him move up this list.
10. Jordan Steffy
Steffy saw time on the gridiron throughout his Maryland tenure but wasn’t able to pile up the stats. He finished with 92 completions for 933 yards, two touchdowns and eight interceptions.
9. Jamarr Robinson
While Robinson showed some promise when he was behind center, he spent most of his career as a reserve, with two starts. He threw for 808 yards and six touchdowns over two campaigns in College Park.
8. Shawn Petty
Originally on the roster as a linebacker, Petty was thrown into the lineup in 2012 after the depth chart was decimated by injuries. He filled in pretty well, throwing for 500 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions. He then returned to linebacker before transferring to Marshall.
7. Caleb Rowe
Although he had a long career in College Park, there weren’t too many highlights. Rowe saw time throughout five different seasons but was never able to put it all together, with his 28 interceptions and a completion rate near 50 percent negating 18 passing touchdowns.
6. Tyrrell Pigrome
Pigrome came in relief of Perry Hills a few times last year and started the season opener this year against Texas. His second campaign in College Park unfortunately ended early when he went down with a torn ACL in that game. He’s shown potential in his young career with the Terps, but he needs to focus on throwing down the field. We haven’t seen enough yet.
5. Kasim Hill
We have Hill to thank for securing the win in Austin. The offense didn’t miss a step when the freshman came in for Pigrome, and he shined from then on, completing 18 of his 21 passes with two touchdowns and no picks. This season looked a whole lot brighter before he went down against UCF on Saturday.
4. Danny O’Brien
Oh, how I wish he was higher on this list. After winning ACC Rookie of the Year in 2010 on the strength of 2,438 passing yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions, O’Brien took a step back his sophomore year before losing the starting job and transferring to Wisconsin. Too bad it never panned out for him in College Park.
3. Perry Hills
While Hills may not have put up the passing numbers that O’Brien did, he stuck with the Terps through multiple injuries. Loyalty and longevity wins. Hills was on the run often at quarterback, so he constantly struggled to stay healthy. From 2012 to 2016 — 2013 was a redshirt year for him — he started 26 games, throwing for 3,887 yards with 29 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions. His senior season was cut short, but he did help the Terps reach the Quick Lane Bowl.
2. C.J. Brown
Brown was the epitome of dual threat. He may not have been an all-time great, but he did anything the Terps needed. He finished his four seasons at Maryland with 7,073 total yards — 5,372 through the air, 1,701 on the ground — as well as 33 passing touchdowns, 25 rushing touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
1. Chris Turner
Turner started 30 games for Maryland from 2007 to 2009, and he was pretty successful during that time. Over his career, he recorded 6,544 passing yards, 33 touchdowns (three of those rushing) and 28 interceptions, and brought the Terps to two bowl games.