Tomorrow’s online-only story dwells on how much Maryland’s loss at Middle Tennessee hung with them last season —- and how little the Terps need a similar setback right now.
But coach Ralph Friedgen repeatedly made this interesting observation in some form or another this week:
SEE RELATED:
“There’s 31 guys that are not here that were at that game last year. A lot of these kids didn’t even make the trip. I just don’t know how much I can rely on that. I would think just from a program standpoint they would want to redeem themselves. …”
And he’s right: There’s a remarkable percentage of current Terps who had little or nothing to do with the Mortification in Murfreesboro.
Maryland traveled 72 players to their road opener last season. Of them, 27 aren’t even in the program anymore.
So that leaves 45 holdovers who actually got to witness the miserable evening. But not all of them actually participated. Here’s a rundown (with starters in bold)
HOLDOVERS WHO PLAYED (31)
1-Terrell Skinner
3-LaQuan Williams
4-Jamari McCollough
6-Anthony Wiseman
7-Adrian Cannon
9-Richard Taylor
10-Chris Turner
14-Nolan Carroll
15-Austin Walker
18-Kenny Tate
20-Antwine Perez
21-Trenton Hughes
23-Da’Rel Scott
24-Ronnie Tyler
26-Michael Carter
30-Haroon Brown
33-Alex Wujciak
35-Travis Baltz
38-Cory Jackson
41-Davin Meggett
45-Tommy Galt
53-Hakeem Sule
54-Adrian Moten
56-Deege Galt
57-Jared Harrell
72-Phil Costa
74-Bruce Campbell
80-Lansford Watson
82-Torrey Smith
83-Emani Lee-Odai
89-Matt Furstenburg
HOLDOVERS WHO DID NOT PLAY (14)
5-Morgan Green
11-Jamarr Robinson
25-Dan Bonato
37-Ted Townsley
42-Ben Pooler
58-Derek Drummond
64-Tim Downs
65-Danny Edwards
70-Lamar Young
71-Paul Pinegar
73-Stephen St. John
78-Justin Lewis
88-Quintin McCree
98-A.J. Francis
In short, only eight of the 24 starters from that night are still on the roster. And even that total of 31 guys who played is a bit of a stretch.
There’s three big names (McCollough, Carroll and Campbell) who are hurt and won’t play tomorrow. There’s another bunch that played sparingly (Furstenburg on two kickoff returns comes to mind).
In short, there probably isn’t nearly the mental scar tissue you’d expect to exist —- if you figure it even exists at all.
—- Patrick Stevens
