Position Battle: #2 Running Back

by Ben Broman on Apr 12, 2009 2:16 PM EDT in Football Comment 5 comments

Easily my favorite Davin Meggett photo. This might be my favorite photo from all of 2008.

This one is more of a position battle in name than in reality. The winner will gain a few extra carries, but the loser will still see the ball a decent amount. All three backs are too good to allow one to see all the carries. But it's stil classified as a position battle and I don't want to move to the mess that is the Maryland Terrapin offensive line just yet.

Da'Rel Scott is clearly the top man right now. He's one of the best - if not the best - back in the ACC. He's the homerun threat of the bunch: shifty, fast, and great vision. If he can stay injury free this year, he might get first team All-ACC (the offensive line has to hold up, though). Behind him are two good, proven backs and one who's starting to make some noise.

The Contenders: Davin Meggett, Morgan Green, Gary Douglas

Davin Meggett: Meggett came into the program as an unheralded two star running back. When I say unheralded, I mean it: Maryland was his only major offer, and I believe James Madison was only "showing interest." Meggett quickly impressed the coaches and ended up leapfrogging Morgan Green and getting some playing time. He became a fan favorite, and was pretty damn productive, too. Meggett is a bigger back, with decent straightline speed but not a lot of quickness or moves. He fights for yardage and is a hard worker.

Morgan Green: Unfortunately, Green will always be remembered as "The Guy Maryland Passed on Steve Slaton For" (that's his official title at this point) even though that's not the whole story. Green is similar to Meggett, but he has more natural skills. He's a power back with a bit more quickness and a bit more shake, but he's had injury problems (and according to some, work ethic issues). Late last year, he turned it on in practice and some coaches started praising him. This appears to have continued into this year, and he's giving Meggett something to worry about.

Gary Douglas: To be honest, I never really gave Gary Douglas much of a shot at this. A redshirt freshman, Douglas came in last year as a high three star prospect out of North Carolina; a good player, but not can't-miss. As such, I assumed he'd have to wait until his sophomore or junior year to see a lot of PT. In the spring practice yesterday, Douglas had 36 yards on 9 carries (4 ypc, for those of you not too sharp at math) including a 15 yard TD run. Friedgen singled him out at the press conference, saying he "did a couple good things." I don't expect him to legitimately challenge for a spot, but Davin Meggett got PT last year. You never know what'll happen.

Again, it's in order - Meggett was great last year and the coaching staff likes him. I expect him to win, but Green to get quite a few carries anyway. Douglas will probably have to have a great spring to get up the depth chart, but he very well could.

FWIW, I might (emphasis on might here) be able to get up to CP this week to check out a practice or two and get some actual impressions.

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No Caleb?

At least put him in the story. The kid has burners and can be our next “homerun” guy! His highlight tape is Rediculous and maybe we’ll see a couple of those runs with the MD uniform on.

And all i want is for Caleb to have a better career than Tavon Austin because he sold his soul to the disgusting state of Incest Virginia!

by FEARtheTERP1 on Apr 12, 2009 3:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He'll redshirt with DJ

He’ll have a great career as a Terp, but he’s the #4 guy right now and would get almost zero touches. Can’t justify burning his shirt when it’s this crowded.

by Ben Broman on Apr 12, 2009 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

hope you're wrong,

i’d love to see him return kicks! He is gonna be Amazing to watch in the open field!

by FEARtheTERP1 on Apr 12, 2009 10:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

#2's

Anyone who sat through the Florida State debacle on Senior Night knows this team needs a fundamental change in attitude and not just an infusion of new talent. Replacing that “flex” defense with an attacking one is an important part of it. I didn’t see any evidence that facing that flex defense everyday in practice made the offense any better either…especially the running game. So getting Don Brown’s defense installed is a start. We also need to get backups in place that will push starters and not be content with waiting for their turn. We definitely don’t need any more season long Josh Portis experiments. This isn’t about getting all our four stars on the field. We need eleven guys on the field that detest losing and backups pushing those starters. We’ll be four games into the season before we really know who they are but no one should be ruled out.

by wmterp on Apr 13, 2009 9:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yea, the Defensive scheme

last year was Atrocious!!! It was like wait for the person with the ball to come to you and then get him,lol! Hoipefully this team will Attack on the Defensive end! And i hate to say it but we need to start recruiting better athletes in our secondary! It seems like the fast DBs are scronny as hell and the big DBs are slow as hell! Hey Fridge, go to Florida and PLEASE get an athlete or two!

But you’re right on, that defense last year was not only incredibly unsuccessful, but it was probably the most boring Defense in College Football!

by FEARtheTERP1 on Apr 13, 2009 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs