Maryland football players are drinking “Big Ten water” before playing Purdue

Maryland football is 3-0, but the team is very aware that a whole new season starts this week when the Terps play their first conference game Purdue. Teams are about to get stronger, faster and more talented. The significance of entering conference play hasn’t been lost on anyone.

When players walked in for a workout Wednesday morning, strength coach Rick Court was wearing a Big Ten hat and walking around with a Big Ten sign.

“I don’t think he said anything other than ‘It’s Big Ten week. It’s Big Ten week,’” safety Josh Woods said. “He doesn’t say hi. We would say, ‘What’s up Coach Court,’ and he was like, ‘Big Ten, Big Ten.’”

Court has a special intensity, but there were many ways to get the “Big Ten” message across. Some methods made more sense than others.

“We have Big Ten water,” wide receiver DeAndre Lane said. “At practice they have real big ‘Big Ten’ signs. They kind of just emphasize that it’s conference play so everyone gets excited about it.”

“What’s Big Ten water?” a reporter asked Lane.

“It’s water.”

“Does it have a special container or something?”

“Nah, it’s just Big Ten water.”

Perry Hills seems fine, according to Maryland’s offensive coordinator.

DJ Durkin simply said Perry Hills was “probable” on Tuesday. Offensive coordinator Walt Bell didn’t give much doubt to Hills’ status for Purdue.

“He’s as tough a human being as possible. If we would have played Sunday, he probably would have fist-fighted me. We could have played the next day and he probably would have been out there. Now obviously, we’re never going to put a kid in harm’s way and if he can’t help the football team, we’re going to play somebody else.”

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“He’s good. He’s fine. He just got banged on it. At the end of the day, he just knew that for a play or two, he wouldn’t have been beneficial for the football team. So he stayed down and let Piggy get warmed up.”

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Nike and Under Armour are battling to sponsor D.C-area high school football teams, by The Washington Post’s Mark Gianotto.

Maryland’s homecoming game really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Wes Brown is rejoining Maryland’s backfield after a three-game suspension, but he’s been there this whole time.

Former Maryland defensive lineman A.J. Francis joined our podcast to talk about a whole lot of things, and we got into some deeper topics than we usually do. If you’ve got some time to spare, give it a listen.

Maryland volleyball got swept by Iowa last night, and is still looking for its first Big Ten win.