Tag Archives: Randy Edsall

Maryland QB C.J. Brown Tears ACL, Will Miss 2012 Season

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Maryland Starting Quarterback C.J. Brown’s Injury Spells Doom for the Terrapins This Season

Maryland has seen its worst case scenario for 2012 come true. Its only QB with college experience, starting quarterback C.J. Brown, has been lost for the season due to injury.

Brown tore his ACL in a non-contact drill on Tuesday afternoon, and will miss the entire 2012 season. The other two quarterbacks that were behind him on the depth chart are both true freshman. Former starting QB Danny O’Brien was lost in the spring when he transferred to Wisconsin. Brown and O’Brien had split QB duties last year, but because of O’Brien’s departure, Brown was the unquestioned starter heading into camp. Now that he is sidelined, one of the true freshmen will be expected to start.

This is a serious blow for the Terps. While Brown may not have been as good a passer as O’Brien, he was extremely good with his feet. Even splitting time with O’Brien last year, Brown was able to set a Maryland rushing record for quarterbacks with 574 yards and had started five games. His teammates had also voted him to be one of the captains for the 2012 season, and he appeared to be quite ready to be one of the new leaders of the team. He had put on muscle in the off-season, worked on his accuracy, and was one of the fastest players on the entire team during drills.

With Brown out for the season, the expectations for the Terps will drop. Despite the 2-10 season from a year ago, there were signs that things were looking up. A new turf field had been installed, a good recruiting class was coming in (and a good one for 2013 is in progress), and the chaos of last season had been put behind them. Now that they will not have an experienced quarterback leading the team, it will be a much tougher road ahead. Continue reading →

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ACC Football Recruiting Class of 2013 Rankings Update (August 15)

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Five-Star Defensive Back Kendall Fuller Provides a Big Boost to Virginia Tech’s 2013 Recruiting Class

August saw plenty of move movement for the ACC on the recruiting front, as the league firmly positioned itself in second for soft commitments, but still well behind the SEC. As these classes start to gain more recruits, you’ll see an even more dramatic shift, since many of these rankings are guided entirely by volume, and not necessarily quality (for teams with less than 12 recruits, at least).

Included below are the Rivals.com rankings for all 14 ACC schools. The number to the left is each program’s national rank. Obviously, these figures can and will change over time, since these commitments are still tentative. Additional thoughts are also below.

ACC Football 2013 Recruiting Rankings (August 15)

10. Florida State (19 commits; 3.42 average) (July Rank: 11)

14. Clemson (17 commits; 3.50 average) (July Rank: 21)

18. North Carolina (16 commits; 3.25 average) (July Rank: 34)

19. Virginia Tech (15 commits; 3.27 average) (July Rank: 28)

22. Maryland (19 commits; 2.79 average) (July Rank: 27)

24. Virginia (17 commits; 3.13 average) (July Rank: 19)

34. Miami (FL) (10 commits; 3.60 average) (July Rank: 46)

35. Pittsburgh (15 commits; 2.67 average) (July Rank: 51)

41. Georgia Tech (13 commits; 3.00 average) (July Rank: 36)

49. NC State (16 commits; 2.77 average) (July Rank: 43)

57. Boston College (16 commits; 2.54 average) (July Rank: 57)

59. Wake Forest (12 commits; 2.58 average) (July Rank: 53)

60. Duke (14 commits; 2.42 average) (July Rank: 56)

77. Syracuse (8 commits; 2.71 average) (July Rank: 65)

Some additional notes after the jump: Continue reading →

ACC 2012 Season Preview: Maryland Terrapins

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Quarterback C.J. Brown Needs to Take Less Hits if Maryland’s Offense Wants to Progress in 2012

Team: Maryland Terrapins

2011 W-L: 2-10 (1-7)

Head Coach: Randy Edsall (2-10; one season)

Returning Starters: 15 (5 Offense, 10 Defense)

After arriving at his dream job coaching the University of Maryland football team last year, Randy Edsall proceeded to rub both media and players the wrong way while turning a 9-4 squad into a 2-10 disaster. The team’s defense allowed over 34 points per game. The team’s offense scored just 23 per game. Only two of the team’s 10 losses occurred by a single-digit margin, they barely defeated a suspension-depleted Miami team on opening night, and only beat FBS team Towson, 28-3. Additionally, they managed to choke away double-digit leads against Clemson and NC State, with the latter putting up 42 in the second half to come back and win. Needless to say, Edsall’s first year on the job was a challenging one. But it appears he’s taken steps to fix it.

First up was the offense, which demanded radical changes after a tumultuous 2011 campaign. So the ineffective Gary Crowton was fired, and in his place, the team returned former recruiting coordinator Mike Locksley, who spent the last three seasons at New Mexico. Now, he’ll have to figure out a way to mold C.J. Brown — who showed some signs of success in 2011 — into a program-defining quarterback. On top of conditioning the junior passer to take less hits, he’ll also have to work to replace several major pieces on offense, lost by the major attrition since Edsall took the helm. Beyond the obvious departure of former starting QB Danny O’Brien, Locksley will have to sort out former star tackle Max Garcia‘s replacement as well. With major question marks on the offensive line, it won’t be easy for Brown to quickly establish himself in the pocket. He’ll be relying on top targets Kevin Dorsey and Stefon Diggs to get open often, as well as the questionable running game to help pick up the slack; all uneasy propositions beyond the senior, Dorsey. Again, Locksley was brought back into the fold for a reason, and he’ll have his work cut out for him.

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ACC Preseason Top 25 Players of 2012: #13, Joe Vellano

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Maryland’s Joe Vellano Is #13 on Our Countdown of the ACC’s Top 25 Players for 2012

As part of our 2012 season preview, we’re counting down the top 25 players in the ACC for this season, from 25 to one. Obviously these lists are always completely subjective, so feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments.

No. 13, Joe Vellano, DT/Maryland

Lost in the quagmire that was the 2011 Maryland Terrapins football season was a very good effort by then-junior defensive tackle Joe Vellano. Despite being the only true D-line target for blockers to key in on, Vellano still managed to put up game after game of gaudy tackling numbers. Most notably, his 20-stop demolition of Georgia Tech in a close 21-16 loss provided a stern reminder that while he was stuck on Randy Edsall’s sinking ship, he would not be contributing to the team’s death.

Heading into his senior year with the Terps, Vellano has picked up quite a few honors without even stepping on the field. Despite the team’s lack of success last season, he finds himself an All-American (second-team) and an All-ACC first-teamer. To top it all, he’s already been named to the watch list for five different honors: the Bednarik, Lombardi and Camp awards, along with the Nagurski and Outland trophies. All that for having the highest per-game tackles average among FBS linemen last year? Sounds like a good deal.

Continue reading →

ACC Football Recruiting Class of 2013 Update (July 11)

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Clemson Commit Robert Nkemdiche is One of Many Big Gets for the ACC’s Class of 2013

We’ll be taking a look at recruiting in more detail throughout the 2012 season and into the offseason, but given all the recent fuss over recent Clemson commit Robert Nkemdiche, this figured to be as good a time as any to start the discussion on the class of 2013.

Included below are the Rivals.com rankings for all 14 ACC schools. The number to the left is each program’s national rank. Obviously, these figures can and will change over time, since these commitments are still tentative. Additional thoughts are also below.

ACC Football 2013 Recruiting Rankings (July 11)

11. Florida State (17 commits; 3.41 average)

19. Virginia (15 commits; 3.14 average)

21. Clemson (12 commits; 3.27 average)

27. Maryland (15 commits; 2.86 average)

28. Virginia Tech (12 commits; 3.17 average)

34. North Carolina (11 commits; 3.33 average)

36. Georgia Tech (10 commits; 3.10 average)

43. NC State (16 commits; 2.91 average)

46. Miami (FL) (8 commits; 3.50 average)

51. Pittsburgh (13 commits; 2.78 average)

53. Wake Forest (11 commits; 2.60 average)

56. Duke (12 commits; 2.56 average)

57. Boston College (11 commits; 2.88 average)

65. Syracuse (8 commits; 2.83 average) Continue reading →

ACC Football 2012 Payback Games: Maryland Terrapins

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Maryland Hopes That Temple’s Running Game Is Easier to Slow Down in 2011, Without Bernard Pierce

Every team in the ACC has a couple games they wish they had back from 2011. Whether they didn’t bring their A-game, or the other guys just got lucky, every school would love another shot at an opponent, for the ability to prove it won’t happen again. Luckily, because of conference play and parity in the ACC, many will get a chance at redemption immediately, with rematches already on the books for 2012.

As part of our 2012 college football season preview, we’ll be running through the biggest “payback” games for each school. As no team finished with just one loss, there are likely multiple choices for each — none more “right’ than another, necessarily. Still, every selection should help provide some extra motivation for fans as they gear up for this season’s slate of games.

Team: Maryland Terrapins

Opponent: Temple

Last Year: Loss, 38-7 vs. Temple

This Year: September 8, at Temple

When you lose 10 games in one season, a lot of games could be considered “payback.” So while there were certainly closer final scores and more agonizing endings, it’s doubtful any hurt more than the 38-7 drubbing from the MAC‘s Temple — and at home, no less. After flashing an awful lot of bravado for a team that was just 1-1 entering the contest, the Terps had every reason to believe they’d beat the “inferior” Owls and cruise to a victory. Obviously, this was not to be the case. Continue reading →

Conference Realignment: Which Members of the ACC Are Safe From the Big 12?

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If Florida State and Others Leave the ACC, Will the League Survive? (Yes.)

Yesterday, SB Nation’s BC Interruption discussed the ACC‘s ability to stay intact, regardless of some conference realignment chatter around Florida State and the Big 12. If the league lost between one and four schools to a possible Big 12 (or B1G/SEC) raid, could it stay together? And if so, who sticks around, and who looks for the exits?

We’ll separate all 14 schools into categories first:

Likely Defectors

Florida State, NC State, Clemson, Maryland

Possibly Looking

Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami (FL)

Leave Under Only the Worst Circumstances

Syracuse, Pittsburgh

Not Going Anywhere

North Carolina, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Boston College Continue reading →