This morning the Terp football team had the first of three successive days of workouts.
The rains this week washed out Tuesday’s practice. And coach Ralph Friedgen was forced to slide in a workout tomorrow afternoon before Saturday’s scrimmage to keep the team on schedule for its 15 spring practices, which will culminate in the Red-White game next weekend.
The ninth-year coach lamented the tough scheduling following the practice, saying his hands were tied given the weather and class schedules. With the compressed schedule, the team’s time in the film room will be cut short, according to Friedgen.
“I’m running out of days,” he said.
To make matters worse, Friedgen said he noticed his team tiring at the end of the workout for the first time this spring. He blamed the problem on not making sure the players finished breakfast, which may have contributed to low blood sugar and a lack of focus.
At a press conference to kick off the spring, Friedgen talked about making sure the players got a good breakfast, even with the early morning workouts and suggested he would add extra breakfast lines to streamline the process.
So Friedgen is mindful of the stress weeks like this cause on his players. He noted that it would’ve been easier for scheduling purposes to stick with a similar schedule that involved practicing on Friday, when there are fewer classes to plan around.
But Friedgen, apparently, isn’t that cruel.
“I wouldn’t want to interrupt those three-day weekends,” Friedgen said.
TERP NOTE: Best play of the day came courtesy Da’Rel Scott. The junior running back calmly lobbed a halfback pass to Torrey Smith during the full-team portion of practice that completely fooled the defense. It was reminiscent of his 9-yard touchdown pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey against Wake Forest and provided a reminder that he finished last season with more passing yards than former Terp quarterback Josh Portis.
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