April 1, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The University of Maryland football team opens its third spring practice under head coach Ralph Friedgen Wednesday at the football practice fields on the UMCP campus.
The Terrapins -- who are coming off the second 11-win season in school history and their first bowl win since the 1985 Cherry Bowl -- return 17 starters (seven offense, nine defense, one specialist) from last year's 11-3 (6-2 ACC) squad.
Friedgen and his staff -- which includes two new members in running backs coach Bill O'Brien and inside linebackers coach Tim Banks -- will hold 15 practice sessions between now and the annual Red/White Game on April 26th. All practices will be held on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with times typically at 4:00 p.m. during the week and TBA for weekends.
The following is a breakdown of events surrounding this year's spring drills:
PRACTICE COVERAGE AND ATTENDANCE:
This year's spring practices are presently open to local media and the public by reservation only. Media members who wish to attend practice must contact Greg Creese (301-314-7065) in the Maryland Athletics Media Relations Department prior to attendance. Fans interested in attending practice may do so by contacting Karyl Henry (301-314-7096) in the football office.
IMPORTANT DATES
Wednesday, April 2 First Day of Practice (4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, April 12 First Scrimmage (10:00 a.m.)
Saturday, April 19 Second Scrimmage (10:00 a.m.)
Saturday, April 26 Spring Game/Last Day of Spring Ball (4:00 p.m.)
PRACTICE DATES (times TBA; dates subject to change)
Wednesday, April 2 Practice #1 (4:00 p.m.)
Friday, April 4 Practice #2 (4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, April 5 Practice #3 (Time TBA)
Sunday, April 6 Practice #4 (Time TBA)
Monday, April 7 Practice #5 (4:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 9 Practice #6 (4:00 p.m.)
Thursday, April 10 Practice #7 (4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, April 12 Practice #8 (SCRIMMAGE 10:00 a.m.)
Monday, April 14 Practice #9 (4:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 16 Practice #10 (4:00 p.m.)
Friday, April 18 Practice #11 (4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, April 19 Practice #12 (SCRIMMAGE 10:00 a.m.)
Monday, April 21 Practice #13 (4:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 23 Practice #14 (4:00 p.m.)
Saturday, April 26th RED/WHITE GAME, Byrd Stadium (4:00 p.m.)
RED-WHITE GAME FESTIVITIES
The annual Red-White Game will take place on Saturday, April 26th, at 4:00 p.m. at Byrd Stadium. This year's game will feature a number of activities and interactive games that will take place on the stadium's main concourse including a team autograph session that will start at 3:00 p.m. Admission to the game is free and a part of "Maryland Day," a campus-wide event.
NEW DATE FOR NIU
The Terps' season opener at Northern Illinois has been moved from its original date of Saturday, August 30th, to Thursday the 28th. The move gives Maryland three Thursday night games in 2003 with the other two (at Georgia Tech and vs. Virginia) being nationally televised by ESPN. As of April 2, the NIU game had not been picked up by television.
FRIDGE ERA -- YEAR III
Ralph Friedgen, the most successful second-year coach in ACC history with a 21-5 record over two seasons as the Terps' head coach, embarks on Year No. 3 in charge of the Terrapin football program in 2003. To date, Friedgen has overseen an astonishing turn of events since taking control of the Terps' program following the 2000 season. In his rookie season following 32 seasons as a successful assistant, Friedgen captured consensus national Coach of the Year honors after leading his alma mater to an ACC title, a BCS bowl berth (FedEx Orange), a 10-2 overall record, and a final coaches' poll ranking of No. 10. This past season, the Terps exceeded expectations once again, winning 10 of their final 11 games to finish with a school record-tying 11-win season (11-3) and a berth in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, where they overpowered Tennessee, 30-3.
NO COOPERATION FROM MOTHER NATURE
The Terps are starting spring football over a month later than they originally planned and blame can be affixed to Mother Nature. With renovations planned for the football practice fields scheduled after spring practice, the original goal was to start spring on February 23rd and wrap it up with the spring game on March 22nd. The hope was that work crews could get done with the fields and give the grass more than enough time to set in and grow. But because of the inclement weather - first a big snow and then ensuing rain - that plan had to be scrapped and what is now the start of spring ball (April 2) put into effect.
NO ONE-HIT WONDER
A year ago this time, shortly after the Terps' completed their amazing 10-2, ACC-championship season of 2001 under first-year head coach Ralph Friedgen, critics were ready to label Maryland's football program the latest "one-hit wonder." No longer. Maryland followed its turnaround season of 2001 with only the second 11-win campaign in school history in 2002.
INJURY UPDATE
The latest on the injury front includes some good news and some not-so-good news. On the positive side, it looks like NT C.J. Feldheim and newcomer OT Donnie Woods will both participate in spring drills. Feldheim (injured knee versus Duke) and Woods (tore ACL in senior season of high school) will both participate in drills while avoiding the rigors of full-speed contact. On the other front, WR/KR Steve Suter tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee on Monday while running pass routes. He is scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery this Friday and will be evaluated next week. His return for spring drills is to be determined while his availability for the start of fall camp is expected.
RANKING RESPECT
If back-to-back seasons of 10 wins or more were not enough to regain the credibility the Terp program last enjoyed in the mid-'80s under Bobby Ross (with Ralph Friedgen as an assistant), a near-constant national Top 25 ranking has certainly helped. Already, the 2003 Terps have gained notice from Sports Illustrated (No. 11), ESPN.com (No. 14) and others as a legitimate preseason Top 25 choice when the ensuing season kicks off this fall. Since Friedgen took over as head coach, the Terps have appeared in at least one of the major Top 25 polls 17 times. A look at how the Terps have fared in the two major polls the past two seasons:
Year AP ESPN/USA Today
2001 11 10
2002 13 13
17 STARTERS RETURN
Maryland's early preseason Top 25 recognition can be attributed to the fact the Terps return a total of 17 starters - nine defense, seven offense, one special teams - from its 11-3 season of 2001. The 17 players have combined for 331 starts (average: 19.5) over the last three seasons. A breakdown:
Offense Career Starts
TE Jeff Dugan 34
RG Lamar Bryant 31
LG C.J. Brooks 25
WR Latrez Harrison 10
QB Scott McBrien 14
LT Eric Dumas 14
TB Bruce Perry 12
Defense
CB Curome Cox 33
LB Leon Joe 24
DT C.J. Feldheim 20
SS Dennard Wilson 18
CB Domonique Foxworth 16
DT Randy Starks 15
FS Madieu Williams 14
LB Jamahl Cochran 13
LB Leroy Ambush 12
Specialists
PK Nick Novak 26
Total 331
HONORS CANDIDATES
Maryland has a host of honors candidates for 2003, including three players - punt returner
Steve Suter, kicker
Nick Novak and free safety
Madieu Williams - who earned some form of All-America recognition this past season. Others contending for preseason All-America status include cornerback
Domonique Foxworth, a first team All-ACC selection as a sophomore in 2002; tailback
Bruce Perry, who showed he is returning to form after missing 2/3 of last season with a groin injury; and defensive tackle
Randy Starks.
SIX PERFECT 4.0s
Six University of Maryland football players, including three starters, earned perfect grade point averages during the fall semester and 16 others achieved semester GPA's of 3.0 or higher. Recording perfect GPA's were defensive lineman C.J. Feldheim, placekicker Nick Novak, wide receiver Steve Suter and linebackers Charles Luke and Mike Miller. Sam Marvis, a member of the program who cannot play due to medical reasons, also earned a 4.0.
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME
Maryland's success in the last two years has led to successively better recruiting classes in each of the last two seasons. In 2003, the Terps signed one of their best classes in decades and a class that was ranked by some analysts as high as a Top 15 class (BorderWars.com, among others, had the Terps ranked 14th nationally). Included in the mix in the most recent class were players that Maryland could have only hoped to have landed in the past. The list included six players who were rated in the Top 25 at their position by ESPN.com, two who were rated in the Top 50 overall nationally (regardless of position) by SuperPrep, and 10 total who earned all-region recognition from SuperPrep. Three recruits from this year's class (DT Robert Armstrong, C Robert Jenkins and OT Donnie Woods) are already enrolled at Maryland and will be here for spring ball.
NEW FACES
There will be two new faces on the Terp coaching staff this spring as Bill O'Brien has joined on as Maryland's running backs coach while Tim Banks will work with the Terrapins' inside linebackers. O'Brien served as the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Georgia Tech over the course of the last couple of seasons while Banks was a cornerbacks coach at Memphis. Both coaches have ties to the current staff as O'Brien worked with Friedgen and actually replaced him as offensive coordinator at Tech when Friedgen took the head job at Maryland; Banks served under defensive coordinator Gary Blackney from 1998-2000 when Blackney was the head coach at Bowling Greeen State.
ATTENDANCE GAINS
A year ago, in Friedgen's first season as head coach, Maryland recorded the second-biggest attendance jump in the NCAA I-A ranks. This past season, the Terps set a single-season school record by attracting more than 323,000 fans during the seven-game home slate.
13-1 AT BYRD STADIUM
Under Friedgen, Maryland has posted its best two-year home win total in school history, winning 13 times in 14 starts under his direction.
WHERE WILL HE GO?
Midway through spring practice, recent grad E.J. Henderson will have been selected in the 2003 NFL Draft. Should Henderson be chosen in the first round, as anticipated, he will become the first Terrapin since Chad Scott in 1997 and the 13th Maryland player overall to be selected in the opening round. Should he be drafted in the top 15, he will become the first Terp to be drafted that high since DE Joe Campbell was picked seventh by the New Orleans Saints in 1977.
