McCree, Tyler Return for Terps; Robinson Out for Season With Shoulder Injury

We have some good news and some bad news, both coming from the Baltimore Sun's Jeff Barker.

First, the good news: suspended receivers Ronnie Tyler and Quintin McCree will be returning to Maryland's lineup against Towson on Saturday, and they don't even have to work their way up the depth chart: it sounds like they regained their starting positions immediately.

A lot of people have guessed that perhaps Danny O'Brien's recent troubles have been the result of chemistry issues without McCree and Tyler in the lineup. I don't buy that, but their return has to help things - Tony Logan has potential, but McCree and Tyler were great against Miami and have been with O'Brien for much longer. Hopefully this will smooth some things out in the passing game, which should make the entire offense click a little smoother. I expect the top four WRs will now be Dorsey-McCree-Tyler-Logan, in some rough order.

(And I hate to be the conspiracy theorist type, but the timing is certainly a bit questionable on this one. Blown out by Temple with no passing game ... reinstate starting receivers. Then again, Tyler was the scout team player of the week, so maybe that is just conspiracy theory babble. Just a thought.)

The bad news may not be entirely bad, depending on how things progress from here: starting sophomore safety Matt Robinson will have shoulder surgery and be out for the year. He'll get a medical redshirt, though, so he'll still be a sophomore next season.

Robinson's had an up and down year for the Terrapins - he led Maryland in tackles against West Virginia and was the conference's second-leading tackler through the first two games, though he has missed two tackles on the year that've led to touchdowns. He gets some flak for that, but given how many tackles he's been a part of, it's pretty clear way too many runners are getting free into the secondary. He's bound to miss a few, and it's unlucky that they've been touchdowns.

But the really interesting part to me is who may replace him. His listed backup is Austin Walker, a senior who's seen playing time almost solely on special teams. Maybe I'm crazy (actually, I'm not) but my first thought was that this is the perfect time for Edsall and Todd Bradford to end the Kenny Tate STAR experiment and move #6 back to safety, his natural home. The injury allows them to save face - that is, they don't have to admit that they were wrong if they don't want to, either to the media or the players - and, frankly, it makes sense anyway. Mario Rowson or Lorne Goree, both of whom have seen some playing time in the early weeks, will likely fair better at their positions than Walker would at his, and even if they didn't it might be worth it just to get the team's best player back in his best position.