Lost in the Moment: David Mackall, Matt Robinson Burn Redshirts

Remember last year, when the weekly ritual of redshirt burning became next-day news? Well, among all that excitement what with the goal line stand and the win and all that jazz, it just so happened to slip my mind that two of Maryland's true freshmen, linebacker David Mackall and safety Matt Robinson, burnt their redshirts.

The highly-touted Mackall was almost a guarantee to burn his shirt, though it didn't really happen the way I had envisioned it. As the supposed #2 Mike linebacker behind Alex Wujciak, the hope was that Mackall would be able to provide some quality relief time.

Personally, I didn't see him on the field for a traditional defensive play; instead, he was on kickoffs and kick returns. Strange, especially considering that Wujciak left the game for a short spell, but ultimately acceptable; it was going to happen eventually anyway.

Robinson's didn't look quite planned, but it was also a likelihood. The sleeper from Atholton in Columbia came into the game after Antwine Perez went down with an injury. Perez was back in a few plays later, but how quickly Robinson got in made it pretty clear that he was the first option off the bench, which meant that he was going to burn his shirt eventually.

Quite frankly, I'm a little happy that Robinson, not Titus Till, was the safety that burnt his shirt. Till's a four-star with a very high ceiling, so preserving a year of his eligibility (at least so far) was a good idea.

And hey, compared to last year's season opening five burnt redshirts, two's a pretty acceptable number.