March 27, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland football team kicked off its spring workout schedule Tuesday at the Terps' on-campus practice facility with a two and one-half hour session.

In the first of 15 spring practices, the Terps focused on individual drills for the first 60 minutes before moving into team drills, including a number of 11-on-11 periods.

The Terps are looking to build on last season's 9-4 campaign which was capped with a school-record third-straight bowl victory, a 24-7 triumph over Purdue at the Champs Sports Bowl.

Maryland returns 41 letterwinners this spring, including 13 starters (seven on offense and six on defense), but will have to replace two-year starting quarterback Sam Hollenbach who left as one of the most prolific passers in school history.

Junior Jordan Steffy enters the spring No. 1 on the depth chart at quarterback, but will have a lot of competition this spring with six signal-callers on the roster. None of the other quarterbacks have seen action in a Maryland uniform.

"Jordan knows what he is doing," said head coach Ralph Friedgen. "He understands things so much more than he has in the past. I'd like to see better accuracy from Jordan. That is where he needs to improve."

Steffy, who was No. 2 last season, does have a number of options on offense with running backs Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore back in the fold, as well as wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and Joey Haynos, an All-ACC tight end.

The defense will have six starters back, including leading tackler Erin Henderson who was an all-league linebacker last season. Starting spots are open at linebacker and in the secondary, which should make for some good competition this spring.

Some of those players battling for time were on display during the 11-on-11 drills as the defense made a number of plays, including quite a few pass breakups. During one sequence, sophomore cornerback Anthony Wiseman knocked down a Josh Portis pass intended for wide receiver Adrian Cannon.

In the final team session, reserve defensive lineman Mack Frost recovered a fumble when quarterback Chris Turner and running back Da'Rel Scott misconnected on the handoff.

Overall, Friedgen was pleased with the first spring practice.

"We came in with a good attitude and were enthusiastic," Friedgen said, "We had a lot of kids who did better than I anticipated them doing, although they did make a lot of mistakes as well, which I expected them to do."

The Terps will practice two more times this week with a Thursday evening workout as well as one Saturday morning. Spring practice concludes on Saturday, April 28 with the annual Red-White Spring Game.

Terps Notes: Friedgen announced Tuesday at his press conference that WR Isaiah Williams, DB Isaiah Gardner, DL Jermaine Lemons and LB Rick Costa will miss spring practice due to injury. They all should return this fall ... In addition, Friedgen announced a number of position changes including Christian Varner moving from free safety to strong safety, Steven Pfister switching from linebacker to fullback and wide receiver Nolan Carroll moving to defensive back.