The Terrapin football team continued practicing through what coach Ralph Friedgen called the “dog days” of preseason camp this morning, the first of today’s two practice sessions.
The Terps were out in the heat for what Friedgen said wasn’t a particularly hard practice after their 111-play scrimmage Saturday and an off-day yesterday.
“We tried to reduce the hitting,” Friedgen said. “Guys are tired but we’ve got another one this afternoon so you’ve got to get through it.”
The Terps have been fortunate on the injury front so far in camp and there were only a few players limited in practice today.
Friedgen said freshman running back Caleb Porzel will have an MRI today to examine the knee injury he suffered during Saturday’s scrimmage. Porzel wore a green non-contact jersey and a brace on his left knee during practice this morning and was noticably gimpy, but for now the Terps are calling his injury a sprained MCL and expect him to miss only about a week of practice.
Friedgen said the Terps are also being “careful” with linebacker Alex Wujciak, who has some swelling in the injured knee that kept him out of spring practice. Center Phil Costa fully participated in practice today after he missed Saturday’s scrimmage as a precaution with a minor knee injury.
On the personnel front, the Terps made a four-way change in the depth chart along the offensive line.
Friedgen said he moved Lamar Young from second-team left guard to first-team left guard, and dropped Justin Lewis from first-team right guard to second-team right guard. Andrew Gonnella moved from first-team left guard to first-team right guard, and Maurice Hampton moved from second-team right guard to second-team left guard.
“They’re all going to have to play,” Friedgen said.
In redshirt news, Friedgen said Porzel and fellow freshman running back D.J. Adams might both play this season. But he said he will only play them at all if he knows they will be in a position to play a lot.
Friedgen said he would like to redshirt both of his freshman quarterbacks, C.J. Brown and Danny O’Brien, but injuries will dictate whether he can do that.
Friedgen said he thinks both signal callers have done a “credible” job so far, and while Brown is more athletic and has better mechanics, O’Brien is more intelligent and knowledgable.
The Terps will practice again this evening at 5:25, then once tomorrow at 3:30.
COACH’S TAUNT OF THE DAY: Offensive coordinator James Franklin to quarterback Chris Turner: “Stop showing everybody how strong your arm is and throw it over [the cornerback's] head with some touch,” Franklin yelled. ”Finesse! Do you have any?”
TERP ALUMNI NOTE: Former Terp wide receiver Danny Oquendo was at Gossett Team House this morning. He said he has a workout to try to catch on with a United Football League team on Saturday.
Greg Schimmel is The Diamondback’s Terp football beat writer. He can be reached at schimmeldbk@gmail.com. You can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Greg_Schimmel