My Report Card

I am fairly disappointed with the game last night and I know we're not as bad as we looked. With that being said this Terrapins team, in my opinion, will be and is not only better than last year but their much more watchable. I enjoyed the look of the Defense, it feels good to watch a normal defense and not that prevent defense that Cosh ran on every play. I also liked what i saw out of three positions in particular: S, TE, & WR. They each had down times but for the most part I think they played pretty well. A couple positions I'm not so high on: DL, OL, & CB. With that being said, here's my Report Card...

I think Chris Turner had little to work with but I saw plenty of blunders in his performance. At the conclusion of the game, Chris was 17-30 with 167 yards. Like i said, the play calling wasnt great by no means but it seems Chris never looked downfield. Now i know that he runs the plays the J. Franklin calls, but at some point in time we have to throw the ball down field. Chris also was late on several passes to Adrian Cannon (leading to Adrian getting obviously irritated). Also, Chris has never been very elusive in the pocket and the protection from the O-line was atrocious, but it seems he would fall before makin an attempt to escape the pocket. He has to have a check down that he can revert to when the Defense rushes 7 or 8 people.  

Running Back: B+

I gave the RB's a B+  because not only were they highly effective when given a chance to carry the ball, but Da'rel also had several nice catches out of the backfield for 31 yards. I firmly believe that if not for Torrey Smith's fumble after the Jhavid Best run, we would've continued with a heavy dose of Da'rel Scott and Davin Meggett. I look forward to seeing how Da'rel fares throughout the year, it could be a special year for #23! And Cory Jackson did a fine job blocking.

Wide Receiver: C-

I'm content with what i saw from Adrian Cannon, althogh he was diving left and right to catch below average passes from Chris Turner. He could actually be the best reciever on the team with his size and strength, if a couple of passes would have been on time his yardage would probably be double. Torrey Smith?... I must say i'm disappointed with the coach's inability to get him involved. He had a couple nice reverses, a good fade route, a great kick return, and... then... he didn't touch the ball anymore. The offense needs him with the ball in his hands. To the slot, Tony Logan did just what the slot man is supposed to do, make difficult catches in traffic and make people miss, not to mention he looks Great in his uniform! But all in all, no passes were thrown downfield and aside from a 29 yard fade route near the end of the 3rd quarter, no big plays were made by the receiving core. But with that being said, this could be the best group of receivers that we've had in some time, the talent is there, so where's the play calling?

Tight End: B

Tommy Galt was a steady presence over the middle, he ended the game with 3 catches for 29 yards. Lansford Watson, one of my favorite Terrapins for the year after that 4th down play in the 1st half, looked very good when given the chance. He finished with 2 catches with 25 yards and i think he should be thrown to much more often since Chris Turner loves throwing the intermediate passes to the tight end. Matt Furstenburg could've had a Much better game then he had! He dropped a 20-25 yard pass over the middle and had a TD reception called back because of too many men on the line of scrimmage, so we'll have to wait and see if he can redeem himself.

Offensive Line: D-

Well, let's just say.... Wow! I knew the offensive line was "young and inexperienced," but i didn't think it would hurt like that. Every 3rd down Cal looked like the Baltimore Ravens last night, the blitzed atleast 6 men every time and it seemed like atleast 5 of them were hitting Chris Turner at once. Breaking News!- Bruce Campbell has turf toe, this could get worse ladies and gentlemen, but lets hope not. You know there's a problem when a team captian, Phil Costa, is penalized as much as the walk-ons. But the walk-ons didn't fare anybetter. Paul Pinegar was beat the entire game. This group probably dosen't deserve a D-, but i'm a homer.

Now to the Defense!

Defensive Line: D-

The defensive line was not impressive one bit last night. Travis Ivey, our leader on the D-line was getting pushed to the side. Carl Russell and A.J. Francis didn't fare much better. Masengo Kabongo made a play or two but he's young and he didn't get the most playing time, although i'd like to see him touch the field more, obviously it couldn't hurt. But the defensive endes didn't make much noise themselves. Deege Galt and Jared Harrell need to create more push and pressure on the QB or our secondary will continue to be eatin alive. Bottom line, Jhavid Best and Shane Vareen had good games, but they didn't have to do much, they were running through 10 ft wide holes. Don Brown needs to light a fire under them because that performance was lackluster!

Linebacker: B-

It's tough to grade the Linebackers because they didn't have much protection from the D-line, but Adrian Moten wasn't spectacular, although he had a sack and a couple healthy hits on the Heisman candidate. Alex Wujciak had a game a Terrapins fan would expect  from him, he's never been know for making plays behind the Line of scrimmage but he will definitely stick his head in there. And Demetrius Hartsfield has often been called the next great MD linebacker but he is a freshman and one gam will not tell us the entire story. But this picture should definitely hang in his locker for a couple weeks. But i'll give them a B- basically from lack of protection from the fellas up front.

 Corner Backs: C

Again, due to the lack of heat by the D-line, it's tough to grade the CB's performance. Nolan Caroll is better than last night's game insists. He got beat a couple times, but his problem is his lack of a physical presence. He needs to hit the receivers in the mouth so to speak. Anthony Wiseman had a couple pass break-ups but was folded in half by a double move by Cal receiver Boateng. And Cameron Chism was on the field several times last night, it was nice to see him get a chance but he was picked on several times too. Hopefully the pressure upfront will get better, therefore the coverage will look better. But the future may be much more positive.

Safety: B

With the incredible depth at safety for MD, several players saw the field with consistency: Terrell Skinner, Antwine Perez, Jamari McCollough, and Kenny Tate. All made good plays, but several had setbacks too. Jamari was playing well before being knocked out of the game by a tight end's helmet to the side of the knee. Terrell Skinner was burnt early by Jhavid Best but thanks to a late pass he was able to recover and prevent the reception. Antwine Perez delivered a couple "big boy" hits. Kenny Tate also made several loud colisions with Cal players, there's not many MD fans that aren't very excited about this kid. He also had a nice punt return up the middle when it seemed he had no lanes to run. But, as a group, the safety's were burnt a couple times. Those things happen in the first game of the seasson, but i look forward to watching this group throughout the year. 

As a whole, the defense is exciting to watch for one reason and one reason only, no more of that freaking Cosh Defense! Hopefully the two next staurdays the Terps will make a statement, i think they will redeem themselves with beatings of JMU and MTSU. But only time will tell. I still believe this years team is much better than last years.