Sophomore forward Jerome Burney will miss the next 3-6 weeks as he heals a stress fracture in his foot, coach Gary Williams announced this afternoon.

Burney redshirted two seasons ago due to a similar injury. After complaining of soreness again, he had an MRI Tuesday.

Burney played a season-high 11 minutes against George Washington Sunday and grabbed three rebounds. The 6-foot-9 forward has scored four points in 48 minutes this season, but his main role as one of the biggest Terps has been to rebound and play interior defense.

Williams noted that sophomore Braxton Dupree and freshman Steve Goins now have the opportunity to step up and fill in some of Burney’s minutes.  Dupree was the team’s starting center for the first six games but has only played one minute over the last two contests.

Goins has played seven minutes of mostly garbage time over three games.

mseligdbk@gmail.com

Kenny Tate is a freshman safety on the Terrapin football team. A heralded wide receiver coming out of Dematha High School in nearby Hyattsville, Md., Tate, who also played safety in high school, made the switch last spring when it became evident that with the Terps’ deep receiving corps, his best shot at early playing time was at safety. Tate sat down with us for this week’s edition of Meet the Team:

Terrapin Trail: First off, how did the team receive the invitation to the Humanitarian Bowl?

Kenny Tate: We thought that we could do a little better than that. Obviously, with our performance this year, we should have been. It’s still a bowl, we’re still happy to be able to play, so we are thankful, but we know it in our hearts that we should have done much better.

TT: You came in this past year as a highly-regarded receiver out of high school, but then during the offseason the coaches asked if you to make the switch to safety. How did you initially react to that request?

KT: I decided that same day. I just really wanted to help the team anyway I can. I know we have a lot of great receivers, and that’s what the coaches, as a team we needed.

TT: Was it an easy transistion, or was it rough at first?

KT: Just getting back into playing defense, since I was playing offense all summer, was a little challenging. But picking up the defense and learning the games, that was simple.

TT: Is there any chance of you switching back to receiver, or are you a safety for good?

KT: I have no idea where I’m going to be. I’ll probably make a decision to stay [at safety] in the spring, or if I want to go back over [to receiver], don’t really know yet.

TT: Coach Friedgen mentioned 22 recruits were making visits this week. You went through the same thing last year. What are some of the things they’ll be doing during their time here?

KT: I remember my visit. I remember we went to ESPN Zone, had a good time there, got to hang with some of the players. I was with [safety] Jeff Allen when I went, since I went to [high] school with him, had a good time. Showed me the campus, showed how they lived, it was pretty good. I actually have a recruit this week. We’re going to show him around, they’re going to get to know each other since they’re all going to be together. We’ll probably get some ideas and some things going so they’ll all be together and make a connection.

jnewmandbk@gmail.com

Things are a little hectic right now for Ralph Friedgen, so much so that he might even be losing track of time. The eighth-year head coach began today’s press conference by wishing the media a Merry Christmas more than two weeks ahead of time. On the other hand, nowadays the Christmas season begins in what, August? Fair enough, coach.

If Friedgen is getting his day mixed up, it’s understandable. The Fridge is currently trying to replace two coordiantors – defensive coordinator Chris Cosh and special teams coordinator Danny Pearlman – schedule practices before the team’s matchup with Nevada in the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 30, prepare players for exams and recruit. Friedgen said the team will not practice Monday through Friday during finals week, but that he will fill the time out on the recruiting trail. The program will host 22 prospects later this week. He’s so busy, he might need to pay his daughters to do his Christmas shopping for him.

“You ever see those guys in Vaudeville when they had those plates up there? That’s what I feel like I’m doing right now,” Friedgen said. “I’ve got about six plates.”

So while Friedgen spins plates, his players will be preparing for the Wolf Pack and, true to the holiday spirit, deciding what their bowl gift might be. Each bowl game is contractually obligated to provide gifts to players, and so far the locker room has been drooling over the potential of receiving an iPod Touch or Xbox360, and center Edwin Williams said he heard they were getting parkas, which might come in handy in Boise, Idaho.

“They were talking about an iPod Touch as a gift, and I think that’d be really neat, because I was actually going to ask my parents for that for Christmas,” defensive end Jeremy Navarre said.

“I don’t think the Terrapin Council has really chosen one yet, but whatever it is, it’s going to be good,” wide receiver Danny Oquendo said. “I really don’t mind. I’ve already got an Xbox and an iPod.”

The players are also excited about playing on the Smurf turf at Bronco Stadium and visiting Boise, “one of the places in the world you probably thought you’d never go to,” Williams said.

“It’s a vacation in a way, but at the same time you gotta realize that, of course, you know,  you have a game and you want to prepare for it,” Williams said. “The last two bowl games, to be honest, I forgot we even had a game I was having so much fun. [At the 2006] Champs Sports Bowl, we got to go to Disney World. That’s every child’s dream and I was 20. It was fun.”

jnewmandbk@gmail.com

After much speculation, the Terrapin football team is officially headed to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, to play Nevada. For full coverage, be sure to pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Diamondback.

jnewmandbk@gmail.com

It’s official.

The Terrapin football team will play Nevada in the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho on Dec. 30.

Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 Eastern Time.

“Our kids are excited to be going to another bowl game and appreciative of the invitation by the Humanitarian Bowl,” coach Ralph Friedgen said in a statement handed out to media before the Terrapin men’s basketball team’s game in the BB&T Classic at Verizon Center. “We’re looking forward to playing Nevada and representing the ACC.”

Terrapin defensive coordinator Chris Cosh will not be back for the 2009 season, and will instead return to Kansas State, where he coached the linebackers in 2004 and 2005, as the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator, associate media relations director Shawn Nestor said. Cosh, who was not fired according to Nestor, was not immediately available for comment.

Cosh will not coach in the Terps’ bowl game and the athletic department is deferring further comment until Kansas State makes an official announcement, senior associate athletics director Kathleen Worthington said.

jnewmandbk@gmail.com

Pat Stevens of the Washington Times just had an interesting entry on his blog concerning this article in the Roanoke Times, which explained how the economy could impact the number the Virginia Tech fans who make the trip down to Tampa, Fla., to watch their Hokies take on Boston College in the ACC Championship.

Let’s expand on that a little. If you use your mouse to scroll down a bit to the last entry on Terrapin Trail, you’ll notice a potential scenario in which if Virginia Tech loses the ACC Championship game, the Champs Sports Bowl could pick the Hokies over another team, more than likely Florida state, opening the door for a possible Maryland-West Virginia meeting in Charlotte at the Meineke Car Care Bowl. But, dismal fan attendance at the ACC Championship could impact the Champs Sports Bowl’s decision, which probably won’t come until Sunday evening.

The bowl, located near the conference championship in Orlando, Fla., is unlikely to invite Boston College, which played there last year, if the Eagles lose, and might not pick the Hokies out of fear that no one will make the trip. Even if Hokie fans do turn out in droves in Tampa, would they do it again in Orlando on Dec. 27? The Seminoles are only a few hours west in Tallahassee, Fla., and common sense says they would have a higher fan-turnout than the Hokies.

But Hokie fans do have a great reputation for traveling in past bowl games, and Champs Sports Bowl has been adamant that it’s highest priority is putting together the best game possible and the game’s selection committee won’t be sitting down to mull over teams until Sunday.

Until then, it’s anyone’s guess, but a betting man would still have his money on the Humanitarian Bowl and that blue turf.

jnewmandbk@umd.edu

Okay, in case you haven’t heard, the Terps are likely headed to the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 30 to play Nevada. However, nothing is set in the ACC-stone yet. Only Georgia Tech and Clemson have officially accepted bowl invitations, to the Chik-fil-A and Gator bowls, respectively.

It’s been speculated that the Champs Sports Bowl, located in Orlanda, Fla., will snatch up nearby Florida State for what might be coach Bobby Bowden’s final game. After that it’s assumed that the Music City Bowl will invite whichever team loses in the ACC Championship and that the Meineke Car Care Bowl, located in Charlotte, N.C., would then invite North Carolina. It’s highly unlikely the Emerald Bowl would invite the Terps two years in a row, which leaves the Humanitarian and EagleBank bowls. The Washington-based EagleBank bowl would love to have the Terps play Navy at RFK Stadium, but the game is held on Dec. 20, the last day of university finals. And since Ball State has decided to not play in the Humanitarian Bowl, that opens the door for the Terps to play in Boise, Idaho. Good thing too, because according to that scenario, the other doors were closing fast.

But…Eric Prisbell of the Washington Post reported this morning that the Terps are still holding out hope that the Meineke Car Care Bowl could invite them and set up a Maryland-West Virginia rivalry bowl game. For that to happen, North Carolina would need to be taken off the board by the Music City Bowl. That would only happen if the Champs Sports Bowl selected the loser of the conference championship, which would reportedly only happen if the losing team was Virginia Tech. If all that happens, Maryland officials think the Meineke Car Care Bowl could pass over Florida State in favor of a Terps-Mountaineers matchup.

Got that? Not really? It’s okay, I don’t much understand it either. Just know: it looks like the Terps are going to Boise to play on the blue field. But…they could still end up in Charlotte playing the Mountaineers. Hmm, I wonder which one Terp fans would like more…

jnewmandbk@gmail.com