C.J. Brown granted extra year of eligibility, can play for two seasons

Expected news, yes, but good nonetheless. C.J. Brown, who has had to sit out two entire seasons due to injury since arriving in College Park including all of last year, has been granted a medical redshirt for a sixth year of eligibility.

Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown - who has had two season-ending injuries in his college career - has been granted a medical hardship waiver permitting him a sixth season of eligibility, according to the school.

The waiver will allow Brown to return for another season after 2013.

Let's hope this show of hubris does not anger AMQHG and incite him to take another ligament as retribution.

In all seriousness, even though it was a virtual certainty, it's encouraging. Brown is still the presumptive starter for next year despite sitting out for spring ball, given Ricardo Young's reported inconsistencies in practice and the own injury statuses of Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe. That was good news for the C.J.B.andwagoners - like myself - but the prospect of going through this whole dog-and-pony show of a quarterback battle again next year wasn't appealing. Should Brown win out, as he frankly probably should, he'll walk into next season as a (very) seasoned veteran leading the Terps into the Big Ten, with a relationship already built up with Deon Long and Stefon Diggs and an entire settled offseason. That's pretty much the dream scenario for making noise in that opening B1G season.

Of course, he does have to actually win the gig, and prove that he's a better quarterback than he was two years ago. After quite some time to work on nothing but his arm, he hopefully will have tightened up his mechanics and accuracy, without losing much of his explosive speed. I was of the opinion that Brown wasn't a terrible quarterback in that disaster of a season - no worse than Danny O'Brien, which is a relatively low bar I'm aware, but still - but there's plenty of competition now, and any subpar passing performance can't be afforded given the weapons the Terps have at receiver. So long as he can be adequate there, his ability to run will make up for the difference - remember how good Devin Burns looked against State? - and Mike Locksley can keep using clever little ploys to get the ball to his playmakers in space. And if it all goes well, Maryland's offense will have pieces in two years' time to be scary good.

That, of course, is all getting a bit ahead of ourselves. But good news for C.J., and hopefully whether or not things work out as planned he can spend the next two years healthy.