Terps Defensive End David Mackall Indefinitely Suspended
by Ben Broman on Nov 2, 2011 8:38 PM EDT
in Football
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PrintDavid Mackall is one of the real bright spots of Maryland football, at least in terms of talent: the sophomore defensive end, who has been likened to Shawne Merriman for his pass-rushing prowess, was key in stopping Georgia Tech against the run and was second on the team in sacks for the season with three.
Now, he's also suspended for an undisclosed violation of team rules. According to the release on Maryland's official site, there's no timetable for his return.
Mackall's absence will be a heavy blow to a defense already missing Kenny Tate, Matt Robinson, and fellow defensive end Justin Anderson, who is unlikely to return this year. His fill-in will likely be Marcus Whitfield, who's started to see playing time in recent weeks but has balanced the good with the silly. Maryland won't be able to afford that as they strive to salvage what's left of their season.
Of course, several will interpret this as Randy Edsall being Randy Edsall and make a snide joke about rules being too tough (*insert doo-rag gag here*). Are they entirely off? Probably not. But rules are rules, and even if they're unnecessary or over the top, I've no problem with them being enforced. (Set? With some, that's another issue.) In that same vein, it's also unwise to criticize or speculate on suspensions when no details are known.
Either way, I'm pretty sure Maryland's worn-down fanbase didn't need a suspension of an important player right now, and it's not exactly going to endear anyone to Edsall. Only winning will do that at this point.
Whatever: basketball!
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Too Quick
Your post beat my FanPost by less than 5 minutes. Grrr.
The last line sums it up.
So sick of the football BS with Dandy Randy. Have countdown clock until UNCW and am completely pumped or B-ball. I hate to discard football like it’s trash but hey that the way were playing right now.
UCLA who?
I've got faith.
Randy is gonna mold this team the way he wants it. Sounds like even before he got here things weren’t being “handled” maybe the way they should have been?? I will wait to post judgement until the next recruiting class. By that time I would like to see several 4 stars and possible a five star in that class. Then I will give him another 2 years to build on that class. Meaning several bowl games and at leat a hint of ACC Title game….After that I’m done…..
I don't get it
How does this affect Alex Len’s suspension?
I like Turtles!
Follow @RedTerrapin
by RedTurtle on Nov 2, 2011 9:09 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Mackall
Your post hits it home when you say the suspension just wears down the fan base. The player punishment is almost secondary. This news on the day of the announcement of Len’s suspension stings less than if it were yesterday. Lets move on to basketball as the football is just too exciting.
Let's face it...
The players who evidently were compatible to Ralph’s way, don’t seem to be compatible to Randy’s way. He doesn’t much like the team he inherrited.
* Maryland basketball has been a sleeping Giant. The Giant is waking up.
** It goes without saying, that if Maryland basketball was a sleeping Giant, whoever was at the helm before, put it to sleep.
Only with this fanbase
All across the country players are suspended by teams of all levels for “violation of team rules” whether they are All Americans or bench players. All teams have their own rules the players must abide by if they want the privilege of playing college sports. Some teams have more stringent rules than others but whether strict or loose they must be followed. Normally when rules are broken the player is the culprit and the coach is lauded for doing the right thing despite the possible effect of on field performance. Unfortunately this does not seem to apply to the participants in this blog where the coach is criticized, before any of us have the facts, for being too strict or rigid. Coach Edsal always seems to be guilty until proven innocent. These players are protected legally from having their transgressions exposed. Few if any of us know what really occurs in these cases. We have heard that the previous coach ran a loose ship and maybe that led to the low graduation rates and the discipline problems that have occurred this year. Whether the stronger discipline will work in the long run only time will tell but to blame the enforcer of the rules more than the breaker of those same rules makes no sense at all.
I think you might be criticizing something that isn't there.
You:
Unfortunately this does not seem to apply to the participants in this blog where the coach is criticized, before any of us have the facts, for being too strict or rigid. Coach Edsal always seems to be guilty until proven innocent.
The post:
But rules are rules, and even if they’re unnecessary or over the top, I’ve no problem with them being enforced. (Set? With some, that’s another issue.) In that same vein, it’s also unwise to criticize or speculate on suspensions when no details are known.
And none of the comments have said differently.
Pre-Emptive Strike
My post was my reaction to all those discussions over the past few weeks criticizing the coach for his disciplinarian ways and a pre-emptive strike against all those ‘snide remarks" that you referred to in your post. It was absolutely not meant as a criticism to yor post. I have great respect for all the work you do on this blog and your ability to frame all sides of an issue. I don’t post often and even though I go by the adage if your not part of the solution you’re part of the problem, I just feel that this coach is getting blamed for way too much. I have been to 3 games this year(from New Jersey) and seen them lose all of them so I am as frustrated as anyone but some of this anger toward the coach is way over the top.
Steppin it up a notch.....
I love it. This will eventually build a whole new program. I predict more wins…fewer nfl players.
I'll take this...
if this is what it produces.
Maryland first. NFL a distant second.
* Maryland basketball has been a sleeping Giant. The Giant is waking up.
** It goes without saying, that if Maryland basketball was a sleeping Giant, whoever was at the helm before, put it to sleep.
by CharlesDriesell on Nov 2, 2011 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions
+1
Was thinking the same thing.
* Maryland basketball has been a sleeping Giant. The Giant is waking up.
** It goes without saying, that if Maryland basketball was a sleeping Giant, whoever was at the helm before, put it to sleep.
by CharlesDriesell on Nov 3, 2011 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions
CD I was mocking the fact that you seem to be completely out of touch with reality
But in retrospect not at all surprised that you didn’t get it
ummm...
on second thought, I have no comment(s). Okay, just one – go terps!
by Terp2B on Nov 2, 2011 10:53 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
we have to beat uva
i dont care about any excuses for this team at this point, we must beat uva
Lets gooo Maryland
Criticism
Coach Edsall has been getting off easy considering the way BC ran all over the Terps last week. As long as the Terps play poorly Edsall needs to be kept on the hotest seat that we can find for him. Take the heat Edsall until we get some wins the pressure needs to be kept up on him. The Terps are not a well coached team and the suspensions are not helping. Edsall needs to offer something more than just discipline. Discipline alone is not working.
More Info Needed
Edsall is entitled to set any rules he desires and should enforced them consistently. Fans are entitled to voice opinions about the rules and their enforcement. But the public lacks key information about enforcement. What was the “crime.” A “felony” or a “misdemeanor.” It would be nice to see some sentencing guidelines. Then we might know whether we’re seeing a hanging judge at work or a squad loaded with habitual “criminals.” Privacy laws probably prevent this info from being made public. So fans are left to judge the disciplinary situation and its effectiveness by onfield results.
Fridge way vs Edsall way
Fridge- Make players run the Byrd Stadium stands if players violated minor incidents.
Edsall- Send them away for a game or 2.
Fridge End Result- Wins against FCS teams with a trip to the Military Bowl
Edsall End Result- Watching MD Basketball
he's suspended INDEFINITELY...
so there’s no way it was a small kind of infraction of the rules. whether we like edsall or not so far, we can’t smash on everything he’s doing because we just don’t know. yeah, some of fridge’s ways were easier on the kids. -and they are kids. kids occasionally do dumb Sh*t. it’s nature. if anything edsall may need to bring his way in a bit more gradually then all in 110% right now. but give the coach the benefit of the doubt.
just like the terps basketball season, turgeon got in and immediately following it became a perfect storm. bruenig, gibbs, & KA dipped out. no jordan williams, p’shon hurt, paulsson dips. the problem for edsall is that his perfect storm is happening early/mid season. the university HAS to give him his four years, or at least two more following this one unless he violates some crazy ethics thing or commits an ncaa violation. he won before he got here and we need to give him a proper opportunity to F stuff up before we complain. actually for a football program, the 3rd or 4th year is about where any kind of real judging can occur.
my biggest concern is on recruiting. the team needs to get faster and more athletic [so they say] but UMD has put a solid number of supposedly slow, clumsy players in the NFL [henderson, d’qwell jackson, heyward-bey, gaither, torrey, etc]. —but if this suspension stuff keeps happening, then potential recruits are going to look at the program as a bad place to be. granted we’re all recruit-freaks here, but they hear about some of this stuff too even if it isn’t in the paper.
Edsall has brought this upon himself
He has constantly said things that are offensive or just stupid. When he said hats should be banned in the team house he claimed this policy was because “his parents raised him right.” That implies parents that allow their kids to wear hats indoors are raising their kids wrong. He’s made excuses about Fridge allegedly leaving the program in a poor state. He’s thrown his players under the bus for lack of speed & athleticism. He even threw O’Brien under the bus with the comment about minimizing expectations. Is it unrealistic to expect O’Brien to play at approximately the same level he played at last season and not significantly regress? Edsall talks about accountability but didn’t take an iota of it until the 6th loss.
As far as recruiting goes, what kind of kids are going to be attracted to Edsall’s pious ways? Kids that are interested in military academies, religious institutions, etc. I don’t think mainstream high level recruits are going to want to subject themselves to Edsall’s sanctified ways. Its not like he has a track record of polishing up rocks and turning them into diamonds.
We have another Tom Coughlin Jr. He will run an impeccably clean program. My prediction is Edsall will end up ranting like Tom O’Brien did today to explain his misery at NC State. O’Brien has done very poorly at NC State and he rationalized it today by saying UNC has agents on staff, pays players, and commits academic fraud. Those things may be true, but the excuse mongering implication O’Brien is making is that he can’t win at NC State because he doesn’t do those things. That will be Edsall in 3 or 4 years.
Don't care anymore
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance (<===now officially here)
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