Notes and quotes from Maryland's Media Day: Defense impressing early in camp

Just got back from Media Day. We'll have some full write-ups throughout the week, but some general thoughts on observations.

• Randy Edsall seems more impressed by the defense after the first week of camp, but said offenses usually start slow anyway. He specifically called out the wide receiving unit as having a lot of work to do, saying Taivon Jacobs and Levern Jacobs are the two that are impressing.
• Evan Mulrooney is out of the hospital now, but it may be a while before he's able to take the field. He had what sounds like a pretty bad viral infection, but the good news is he's on the recovery path now.
• Mulrooney has been competing for the starting left guard spot with Silvano Altamirano, and Edsall said the JuCo transfer had a very good practice Sunday. When asked if any tackles might be moved inside to help out, Edsall declined to answer, saying he wanted to notify players before announcing any changes. That seems to suggest someone might be moving inside. Edsall's been very high on Michael Dunn's play at left guard, so the likely candidates are Damian Prince and whomever loses the job at right tackle between Ryan Doyle and Derwin Gray.
• For Prince, it seems like his best shot at claiming a starting job is a potential move to left guard. "He's got all the tools," Edsall said on the five-star freshman. "He's just young"
• Edsall was asked about Derrick Hayward, and said the redshirt freshman tight end is doing a lot of good things and still has a lot of room to grow.
• On the running back situation, it seems Brandon Ross might have a slight edge. Edsall said that battle is becoming a little clearer, but Albert Reid and Jacquille Veii had been doing some good things as well. Wes Brown appears to be a little behind, but being rusty just a week into camp after a year off from football is understandable.
• Edsall had very, very high praise for Spencer Myers, the converted wrestler who is currently playing defensive end. Quinton Jefferson has been absent due to a family issue, and Myers has played well enough that he'll take his spot with the first team Tuesday in practice.
• The secondary may be further ahead than we all thought. Edsall had very high praise for Sean Davis and the unit in general, while the players talked very positively on Alvin Hill. We'll have more on that later on.
• Yannick Ngakoue looks massive. He and Yannick Cudjoe-Virgil should have little trouble making up for Marcus Whitfield's loss of production.

And finally, Andre Monroe takes the early lead in the team's facial hair leaderboard.

Andre Monroe's beard game is strong pic.twitter.com/q2joELuL7h

— Pete Volk (@Pete_Volk) August 11, 2014