When ACC commissioner John Swofford addressed reporters last week, he mentioned how the NCAA had done away with the Division I-A and Division I-AA designations.

Then he paused a moment to remember exactly what the new names were, before politely asking the assembled media to pick up on the updated terminology he hadn't entirely grasped yet.

Groovy, man.

Welcome to the NCAA's latest self-created situation that will only wind up being a greater nuisance -- the era of the "Football Bowl Subdivision" and the "Football Championship Division." And you don't even need a cover sheet for a TPS report to use the new terms.

In all seriousness, there was no obvious reason to change the appellations other than to remind folks the big boys don't have a playoff system. Is "I-AA" a denigration to those quality teams in the Big Sky and Southern conferences? It never really seemed like it, and an awkward new name isn't going to enhance the quality of play or respect for recent I-AA champions Appalachian State, James Madison and Delaware.

More importantly, it was an understood line of demarcation. The only thing remotely befuddling about the difference in divisions was figuring out which teams were in the process of moving from one to the other (next up to the former Division I-A: Western Kentucky in 2009).

From a strictly media point of view, there are three options in how to handle this:

1. Stick with the old, familiar terminology and technically be wrong all the time.

2. Wholeheartedly embrace the new monikers at the risk of utter confusion for readers who haven't heard of the inane name changes.

3. Use the new terms but also refer to either division as “the former Division I-A or I-AA," thus cluttering up something that was expressed in far more elegant terms in the past.

Oh well. Guess it's time to start thinking about Football Bowl Subdivision member Maryland's season opener against longtime Football Championship Subdivision member Villanova on Sept. 1.

-- Patrick Stevens

It's no time to fret: There's just two and a half months before basketball practice commences in College Park.

For now, though, things are kind of slow. Players stay on campus, working out, helping with camps, playing pickup and attending classes during Maryland's first summer session. But they have the second half of the summer -- roughly six weeks -- to themselves.

So it is a bit quiet. Jason Yaman, Maryland's superb sports information director, says the only players still hanging around campus are Landon Milbourne, Bambale Osby and James Gist (the latter just back from a stint with the United States team at the Pan Am Games in Brazil). The word is also that Jerome Burney -- who redshirted last year after an early foot injury -- was back to full health while he was still on campus.

The Terps' schedule is due out in about three weeks. The ACC releases the entire league schedule at once, but Maryland is already locked into the CBE Classic (up to four games). One of the teams in Maryland's regional of that event is Hampton, the same team the Terps beat in last year's opener.

An ACC/Big Ten visit from Illinois and a trip to Charlotte in early January are other nonconference highlights.

As for conference games, Maryland will play Boston College (the first of which is Dec. 9 in a likely conference opener), Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest twice; Georgia Tech, Miami and North Carolina only on the road; and Clemson, Florida State and N.C. State only at Comcast Center.

Other scheduling nuggets from throughout the country:

* Georgetown will play at Old Dominion on Nov. 28 in rematch of the Monarchs' upset victory last year. The Hoyas will also play host to Radford.

* As anticipated, the Florida-Ohio State national title game rematch will be the weekend before Christmas -- Dec. 22 in Columbus. Of course, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr., Corey Brewer, Daequan Cook, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey won't be there, but at least Billy Donovan will be present in all of his starched shirt glory.

* North Carolina and Nevada have agreed to a three-game series -- with one of those games at the Lawlor Center in Reno. Too bad the likes of Nick Fazekas and Brandan Wright won't get to face each other.

* Oral Roberts and Oklahoma State will meet on Dec. 20 in Oklahoma City, the first meeting of head-coaching brothers. Sean Sutton coaches at Oklahoma State, while Scott Sutton is in charge at Oral Roberts.

* Eastern Kentucky will visit Duke on Nov. 25, in a game you can be all but certain will be televised by some national outlet because Duke is involved.

-- Patrick Stevens

First of all, it's time to acknowledge an error two eagle-eyed colleagues of mine found from the other day.

The Sean Sutton-Scott Sutton matchup this season when Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts play will not be the first meeting of coaching brothers. It's a silly error on this end, since Georgetown (John Thompson III) and Ball State (Ronny Thompson) met last season.

The lesson, of course, is to remain wary of press releases at all times.

As for another scheduling tidbit, according to the Florida Times-Union, Atlantic Sun member Jacksonville will be visiting D.C. in early December to play at American (Dec. 7) and Georgetown (Dec. 9).

-- Patrick Stevens

Hey, how about some more basketball items while girding for the joy of football practices popping up throughout the college game in the next few days?

* A couple bits of coaching news from the Left Coast. Washington locked up Lorenzo Romar through 2015-16. If nothing else, it's a sign the Huskies plan to remain among the Pac-10's best for a while.

Meanwhile, UNLV coach Lon Kruger underwent sextuple bypass surgery yesterday in Las Vegas, less than five months after leading the Runnin' Rebels to a 30-7 season. I'm no heart surgeon, but six bypasses does not sound like a pleasant way to spend a day. Fortunately, Kruger apparently is doing well and could be released from the hospital next week.

* A notable note from College Park, where sophomore-to-be Landon Milbourne will travel to Holland and Belgium with a group calling itself the East Coast All-Stars organized by Basketball Travelers Inc. and coached by Stony Brook assistant Guy Rancourt.

This might be a rather liberal use of the term "All-Star" -- Alvin Bray (St. Joseph's), Steven D'Agostino (Saint Rose), Bryan Davis (Texas A&M), Anthony Farmer (Rutgers), Jaron Griffin (Rutgers), Brett Harvey (Loyola), Josh Linthicum (Bucknell), Zach Peacock (Georgia Tech), Rio Pitt (Stony Brook) and Perry Stevenson (Kentucky) will also be on the squad -- but the experience certainly can't hurt Milbourne, who will assume a greater role this season with five members of last year's rotation gone.

The forward was lost in the shuffle last year, in large part because he backed up D.J. Strawberry. His averages (1.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, 4.8 minutes in 16 games) were what those in the meteorological community might describe as “trace."

You might not remember much about him, since he played in only five of the Terrapins' last 18 games. But he also did this in garbage time against St. John's, and since I was sitting directly under the Madison Square Garden basket at the time, I can attest it was pretty cool.

* This is only slightly college-related and very much schedule-related (a theme for the week), but the Charlotte Bobcats will finish with 25 of 38 on the road next season. No, the Bobcats aren't playing college teams, though their rosters hints they are a college all-star team rather than an NBA outfit. Instead, their arena is booked solid in March with college basketball commitments -- the Division II CIAA (hello, Bowie State!) tournament, the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament East regional. The Bobkittens manage to squeeze just one home date in 11 games between March 8 and March 29.

Good luck, Sam Vincent. You’ll need it.

* Was it wrong to wonder if the poor fellow killed in a dog attack at actor Ving Rhames' home had to stare down some angry four-legged creatures wearing Ron Mexico jerseys in his final moments?

-- Patrick Stevens

With the start of Maryland football practice about 48 hours away (and the media invited in to watch the first five periods each day after being evicted in the middle of last season), here's an exchange at last week's ACC Kickoff event between myself and coach Ralph Friedgen, whose sense of humor remains very much intact.

Everyone should hope the scenario discussed never comes to fruition:

PS: Is there any way that you would play two quarterbacks?

Friedgen: Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna do what I gotta do to win games -- even if you had to play quarterback. If you could win for us, we'd get you back in school. [Laughter from reporters]

PS: Well, you can be sure neither of those is going to happen -- me going back to school or me winning games for you. [More laughter from reporters and Friedgen]

Friedgen: Wouldn't that be something if we had a Diamondback reporter who was our quarterback?

PS: That would be something.

Friedgen: Then he could rate himself at practice. [More laughter]

PS: And he could watch practice. [More laughter]

-- Patrick Stevens

A relatively ho-hum day in College Park, where the quarterback battle between Jordan Steffy, Josh Portis and Chris Turner started off with ... well, without much gusto.

"I thought Portis was a little better with his footwork," Friedgen said. "I wasn't overly impressed with his arm. Neither he or Chris had as good a day as I was hoping they'd have. Jordan was fine; he made a couple mistakes in the running game I was surprised at. It's nothing that can't be fixed."

The split of snaps wasn't too surprising. For every 15 snaps, Steffy took six (with the first team), Portis and Turner took three each (with the second team) and Bobby Sheahin and Jamarr Robinson split three snaps with the third team.

It was also quite muggy, and the forecast for more of the same has Friedgen thinking about pushing practice back later in the week. On Wednesday, with temperatures expected need triple digits, the Terps could shift practice to 7:30 p.m. to stay out of the afternoon sun.

Of course, there was still time for a few classic Ralph-isms. Freshman defensive lineman Dion Armstrong was the only player to cramp up.

"He's from Georgia," Friedgen said. "He thinks he's from Maine."

It was probably not the best day to be evaluating freshmen, although receivers Torrey Smith and Tony Logan stood out to Friedgen. Lansford Watson played some at the slot, but Ralph followed that mention with an overall comment on his newcomers.

"Those freshmen, their heads are spinning with one day of stuff," Friedgen said. "By the end of the week, they'll look like 'The Exorcist.' "

-- Patrick Stevens

If there's something Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen really wants to get out of camp, it's to emerge unscathed from the injury bug.

As practice got underway yesterday, only cornerback Richard Taylor (ACL suffered in spring practice) was shelved. Friedgen cut down on things a bit, opting not to force players to go through his usual "do-it-until-you-get-it-right" approach.

That figures to continue with scorching temperatures expected throughout the week. If the Terps can somehow beat the heat -- and not beat themselves up, as they are wont to do -- they might be able to make it to the Sept. 1 opener against Villanova with only Taylor stuck to the sideline.

Some other tidbits from College Park and beyond:

* With defensive lineman Omarr Savage ineligible and tight end Devonte Campbell off to Hargrave Military Academy, the Terps appear to be at 85 scholarships on the button, the NCAA maximum. When Friedgen signed a 25-man class and also added previous signee Jamarr Robinson and Southern California transfer Antwine Perez, there figured to be a severe scholarship crunch. Instead, Savage, Jared Gaither and Barrod Heggs were all academic casualties, and freshmen Carl Russell and Joe Vellano will both grayshirt and presumably pop up for spring practice.

A similar situation wouldn't be a surprise next year; only 13 of the Terps' scholarships are allocated to seniors.

* Poor Duke. The Blue Devils lost linebacker Michael Tauiliili after he was arrested on Saturday for, among other things, driving while impaired and carrying a concealed weapon, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. Coach Ted Roof, who can't catch a break with key losses, suspended Tauiliili indefinitely.

* In college hoops, Temple announced its nonconference schedule. The Owls will play in a tournament in Puerto Rico with psuedo-local Virginia Commonwealth the week before Thanksgiving and will also face Duke on Jan. 9 at the Wachovia Center. I'm taking bets now on which four-letter network will be televising that one.

* Any time is a good time for a college basketball coaching change, apparently. East Carolina reassigned former Virginia guard and Virginia Tech coach Ricky Stokes and promoted former Virginia Commonwealth and Chattanooga coach Mack McCarthy to take his place. In case you're keeping score at home, that's 59 jobs that have changed hands since the close of the season

-- Patrick Stevens

Given the timetable Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen has placed on his quarterback situation — "It'll be at least a week, maybe a little bit more," he said yesterday -- it probably won't leave much time for reserve Josh Portis to make an impression.

Even still, Portis has high marks for Friedgen and what playing at Maryland will mean for him in the long-term. Portis, you might remember, began his career at Florida before transferring after one season. He sat out last year because of NCAA rules, and at minimum would probably be a superb change-of-pace if junior Jordan Steffy retains the job.

"If you learn this offense, you'll be good for the next level," Portis said. "Also with his program having so many rules, I think coming out of this program you'll be a better person in life as well. I think coach Friedgen puts more of an emphasis on that, being a person and being a good person and being successful in life as well."

There's also some praise for Friedgen's priorities, notably education. Although the Terps lost three players to academics since last season -- Barrod Heggs, Jared Gaither and Omarr Savage -- Portis notices a distinct emphasis put on the books by the big fella.

"He puts so much value on education and getting a degree, and some programs don't do that,” Portis said. "Florida, they don't really value education like they do here. Him being the way he is, I think it's better off for us in the long run."

-- Patrick Stevens

Probably the biggest news in college sports today is the pending promotion of assistant Dino Gaudio to take over for the late Skip Prosser at Wake Forest, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. Gaudio is a long-time assistant to Prosser -- going all the way back to a Wheeling, W.Va., high school -- and has head coaching experience at Army and Loyola.

Even though neither of those stints can be described as successful -- 68-124 isn't good even if it is at a pair of schools generally regarded as coaching graveyards in the last 25 years -- it can't be much of a surprise that Wake stayed in-house with its most experienced assistant for the gig.

One thing's for sure: Gaudio will be one of the best-dressed coaches in the country, even giving Armani-clad Rick Pitino a run for his money. Of course, he'll encounter Sidney Lowe and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat twice a year, and those meetings will be fashion events all by themselves.

* Could the college game beat the NFL into China? It seems possible, especially if Oregon and Boise State can iron out a ton of logistical issues for a potential game in Beijing in 2009. There's still a long way to go, though a meeting between a team wearing outrageous gold threads and the Kings of the Smurf Turf would be cool pretty much anywhere.

* Michigan and Utah will open next season at the Big House; so says the Detroit Free Press and countless other Michigan outlets. There's also a basketball aspect to this, with a home-and-home between the schools set up for 2009 and 2010.

It's a shame it will have to be Michigan and Utah from those years instead of a retro game. Alas, there is no way to get back the eligibility of 1993 Michigan to face 1997 Utah; heck, Chris Webber wasn't even eligible then for the Wolverines.

* There must be something about the Research Triangle that appeals to former Nebraska quarterbacks. Joe Dailey has gone from the QB at Nebraska to the starter at North Carolina to a wideout for the Tar Heels. Now, former Huskers quarterback Harrison Beck is getting a shot at the N.C. State. Oh, and he's working in his third offense in three years, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

* Good grief -- the Great Pumpkin Phil Fulmer is having more problems keeping his players on the field. LaMarcus Coker, Tennessee's top returning rusher, was suspended indefinitely for what the Chattanooga Times Free Press and other outlets have hinted is multiple flunked drug tests. The Great Pumpkin euphemistically refers to it as "a medical situation."

On the bright side, Coker isn't trading his orange jersey for an orange jumpsuit. That's an upgrade for Rocky Top these days.

-- Patrick Stevens

Day Two on the march toward the opener against dreaded foe Villanova was rather mundane in College Park. There wasn't nearly the same buzz in part because the newness was gone, and all the television cameras that popped up for media day have gone back to following car chases or other such irrelevance until the season gets under way.

That just left a handful of issues that will linger throughout the next three weeks -- the heat, special teams, the offensive line and quarterback.

Coach Ralph Friedgen was pleased with the rapid tempo despite the warm temperatures (that will force today's practice to 7:30 p.m.; my personal estimated time of departure from College Park: 11 p.m.). And the kicking possibilities are nowhere near being sorted out, with Obi Egekeze and Travis Baltz in the hunt to take over for Dan Ennis.

Egekeze lost out to Ennis the last two years, but Friedgen seems impressed with his early work. But if he struggles, it's only a matter of time before the Fridge drops a line like, "He's on scholarship, too. He's got to go out and perform like everybody else." That was the Kiss of Death applied to former quarterback Joel Statham after he struggled at Florida State in 2005; two months later he decided to transfer.

While the inexperience at kicker is understandably concerning, the biggest issue Maryland faces is maintaining its thin offensive line. It's bigger than the quarterbacks, the special teams, and anything on defense. Guard Andrew Crummey emphasized last month the Terps had a good top seven. He didn't bother talking about anything beyond that, which was probably for the best.

Ralph was more blunt yesterday, though he hinted true freshmen Bruce Campbell and Maurice Hampton could play a role by season's end.

"We don't have a lot on the second team," Friedgen said. "I'm just telling you, we have a long way to go there. The cupboard is thin right there. When you get past [Phil] Costa and [Jack] Griffin, we're probably dealing with guys that are hard to win with."

The meaning is unmistakable: It doesn't matter who is playing quarterback -- if the offensive line is injury-riddled and porous, it will be an excruciatingly long season for the Terps.

Of course, getting the quarterback job sorted out is important, too. Presumptive starter Jordan Steffy threw an interception in practice yesterday but was otherwise fine, and Josh Portis looked a bit better to Friedgen with the option installed. Chris Turner was improved as well, buoying the Fridge's spirits.

"I really feel good about the quarterback situation once it all works its way it out," Friedgen said. "I think we have some kids there that are pretty good and are going to be pretty good. We just have to go out and do it. Until that happens, no one's gonna believe me."

-- Patrick Stevens

It was admittedly a nuisance to be stuck in abandoned College Park past 10 p.m. last night waiting for Maryland to finish up its drills for the day. But it would be awfully hard to take issue Ralph Friedgen for pushing practice back more than three hours.

At 5 p.m. -- usually in the middle of an afternoon practice session -- the temperature on the grass was 107 degrees; on the field turf portion (fake grass with bits of rubber embedded in the "roots") of the facility, it was 126 degrees.

By 7, the heat index made it feel like a balmy 102 degrees. That was good enough to get a workout in, and afterward the Fridge was downright jolly at times.

At one point, Ralph wondered how we killed the time between watching the first five periods of practice and talking to him nearly two hours later.

Ralph: Where'd you all go, Cornerstone?

Stevens: Is there like a special line that comes straight in here, like a Cornerstone-type Batphone that lights up?

Those familiar with the relatively recent history of the College Park police blotter remember the Halloween 2005 brawl at Cornerstone that featured several football players and eventually led to three players being suspended a game each.

Anyway, there was more of the usual camp talk. Tailback Keon Lattimore is looking faster. The second-string offensive line is still capable of giving Friedgen nightmares. Linebackers were permitted to apply pressure yesterday for the first time, flummoxing inexperienced tailback Da'Rel Scott. And the defense is way ahead of the offense.

"That's not unusual," Friedgen said. "We've only installed 2,000 plays in three days. There's a little confusion going on and it's hard to be aggressive when you're thinking."

Friedgen himself is holding up as well as can be expected. He had a lingering infection after a boating adventure in Charleston, S.C., last month, and endured a 102-degree fever the four days before camp started. Meanwhile, he hasn't seen much of his family this week; wife Gloria is up in New York.

"I think she left me," Friedgen deadpanned.

The Terps will be back to their usual start time today, though the Fridge is wary of thunderstorms.

Oh, and one other thing; the Terps are officially at 85 scholarship players (the NCAA maximum) on the button. There could be an academic casualty or two yet, but there isn't a roster crunch to worry about.

-- Patrick Stevens

Another nugget from Maryland's practice yesterday: Redshirt freshman Evan Eastburn played some at center as Ralph Friedgen tries to figure out where he's going to procure the pixie dust needed to create two or three more reliable offensive linemen.

Unfortunately, this is football and not Fantasia. The Fridge is more than concerned about line depth, and he has every reason to be with only six guys who have actually played college snaps at offensive line on the roster.

Elsewhere in the conference ...

* Winston-Salem Journal columnist John Delong approves of the hiring of assistant Dino Gaudio to replace the late Skip Prosser at Wake Forest. Who knows if Gaudio will work out, but there was really no way Wake could have gone outside its program given the timing and nature of the job vacancy. Gaudio also stood the best chance of anyone of salvaging the stellar recruiting class Prosser pieced together before dying of an apparent heart attack last month.

* Virginia Tech's Ike Whitaker is back with the Hokies after checking into rehab after last season. His is not the perfect story, as the Roanoke Times details, but it appears the sophomore quarterback is in better shape to make a contribution to Tech than in the past.

* An ongoing saga in South Florida is the future of the Orange Bowl. Not the game, but the rickety old stadium. Reliable Mr. Press details a situation that has been percolating for some time. Miami has a lot of history at the off-campus OB, but the stadium is dilapidated and situated in a lousy neighborhood. More money can be made from parking and concessions up the road at Dolphins Stadium. This could turn out to be the last year the stadium is a regular college football venue, which leaves me sort of excited to visit when Maryland plays Florida International there on Sept. 8.

* The first scrimmage of Tom O'Brien's first camp at N.C. State left him grumbling about inconsistency, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. When the positives are improved tackling and an injury-free session, you're probably trolling pretty hard for reasons to be upbeat.

* Georgia Tech ranked last in kickoff return yardage yielded among 119 major college teams last year, so it is a sensible thing for the Yellow Jackets to be working on this month. Toss in the new kickoff rule -- they’ve been moved back five yards to the 30, a decision that will severely decrease the number of touchbacks -- and allowing 26.98 yards a return again would be even costlier for Chan Gailey's bunch.

-- Patrick Stevens

If there's one time Byrd Stadium is guaranteed to be a bit crazy, it is the Sept. 13 game against West Virginia.

Athletic department officials announced a sellout for the game, the last between the two teams until at least 2010. West Virginia, which has pummeled Maryland two straight years, is going off the Terrapins' schedule the next two years in favor of a home-and-home with California.

Just a gut feeling, but it also figures to be the first (and perhaps only) time Maryland dons its alternate black home uniforms. Lots of fans love them; for me personally, it just evokes scary memories of the ill-fated Ron Vanderlinden Era (though I remain a bit of a sucker for the helmet from the same four-year span.

-- Patrick Stevens

After a few days of keeping an eye on the quarterbacks at Maryland's practice, today was the time to take attendance.

There were a couple absences.

Redshirt freshman tailback Pha'Terrell Washington is not in camp with the Terrapins in order to focus on his summer classes, coach Ralph Friedgen said. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman free safety Taji Thornton has not practiced during camp. The status of both players will be ascertained by the start of the season.

Friedgen can only bring 105 players into camp per NCAA rules, so it would make sense to believe he would have anyone around who he thinks could possibly help early this season.

Cornerback Richard Taylor (ACL) isn't at practice or in meetings, though he is performing rehab at the Terps' complex, because he won't be available for the Sept. 1 opener against Villanova. Safety Antwine Perez isn't around either because he cannot play this season after transferring from Southern Cal.

(A recent exception to this was quarterback Josh Portis last season. Even though he couldn't play, he still provided a valuable glimpse at a mobile quarterback on the scout team during camp).

It's not hard to read the tea leaves on this one. At the very least, it's safe to say Friedgen isn't banking on receiving anything from either Washington or Thornton this year.

-- Patrick Stevens

How long does it take Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen to install nearly the entire playbook?

Try a little more than four days.

By the time the Terrapins complete a walkthrough this morning -- and before the fifth practice of camp -- they'll have 95 percent of the offense in.

"I did it this way last year and it saturates them," Friedgen said. "The older kids are doing pretty good. The young kids, you almost concede they're going to be done."

The big fella will get those guys some looks in Saturday's scrimmage, the first of camp. It seems like Friedgen would like to figure out soon who among the freshmen will be able to help him out. Among those routinely praised this week: Wideout Torrey Smith and fullback Taylor Watson.

The kicking battle is progressing between Obi Egekeze and Travis Baltz, but Ralph is most impressed with the kickoffs of Chris Roberts. He'll be an interesting player to watch because of the new kickoff rule that shifts those plays back five yards. And interestingly enough, special teams coordinator Ray Rychleski said yesterday Roberts routinely gets his kickoffs down to the 5.

Another special teams unit worth keeping an eye on is the field goal block team. They got ahold of couple kicks the other day, and have been pretty chippy early on in camp.

"We really don't want them going that hard," Friedgen said. "It's amazing. Maybe it's like your kids. Tell them what not to do and they'll do it. 'Stay up and don't go hard' and they go hard as hell. 'Stay off the ground' and they tackle."

Friedgen keeps saying senior Keon Lattimore looks like he's faster than in the past, which can only bode well for the Terps' backfield committee. He is also high on redshirt freshman Da'Rel Scott, though still concerned with his ability to pick up blocking schemes and the like. Scott's injury near the start of spring practice cost him valuable reps, and it could hold him back this month as well.

There's no real news on the quarterback front, except that junior Jordan Steffy remains where he has been for the last eight months -- at the head of the pack.

Friedgen also continues to fire off some amusing comments, such as an exchange about walk-on fullback Steven Pfister (pronounced FIST-er)

"I keep calling him Feaster," Friedgen said. "I told him, when you start doing something, I'll remember your name."

-- Patrick Stevens

There is little doubt Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen will call out his players in the media if he thinks they need a little nudge.

He did it with a glimmer of subtlety on Monday when he said junior defensive lineman Trey Covington needed to get better after two solid seasons. There wasn’t even a hint of that when he spoke about junior wideout Isaiah Williams yesterday.

"He's got a lot of potential, but he really has to get a lot more physical if he's going to play for us," Friedgen said. "I'm to the point where if he can't block anybody, I'm going to play somebody else. I think he's a talent and I think he runs decent routes. He has to catch the ball over the middle and he's not great at that, either. Right now, I'd say he's going to play on third down. I'm going to play somebody else on first and second down. To me he's got to be a lot more physical. We had a blocking drill today and I didn't see him really show me he wanted to do it."

If ever there's a passage that needs no interpretation, that is it.

Friedgen proceeded to rattle off some guys who have impressed him, like freshmen Quinton McCree and Torrey Smith, as well as redshirt freshman Adrian Cannon.

"I know Adrian will block you," Friedgen said. "He's not as fast as Isaiah. He was our best playmaker in spring, and that was even with Darrius [Heyward-Bey]."

Williams had 28 receptions for 379 yards and three touchdowns while starting 11 games last year, but there was rarely the threat he'd lose playing time. The Terps had three healthy wideouts remotely capable of producing for most of the season, and it was unlikely any of them would get yanked.

It's a bit different now. Still, Williams is a sharp guy. It would be no surprise if the message sinks in and Friedgen talks about Williams having a great practice or two in the next few days.

-- Patrick Stevens

A few more basketball scheduling tidbits trickled in over the last 24 hours. The ACC will probably release its schedule for all 12 schools sometime next week (it usually happens in the Aug. 15-Aug. 20 timeframe), but here's a couple nuggets that shed some light on some area teams:

* Vermont and former Catholic coach and Maryland assistant Mike Lonergan should probably set up camp inside the Beltway for a week in November. The Catamounts open at George Mason on Nov. 9, then visit Virginia two days later. Then on Nov. 18, Vermont is back in the region to face Jimmy Patsos and Loyola at Reitz Arena.

* The Burlington (N.C.) Times-News has the schedule for Elon. The Phoenix will open Nov. 9 at Virginia Tech and will also visit Virginia on Dec. 22.

* In case anyone cares, the Jackson Hole Star-Tribune has Wyoming's schedule. Check out that Sun Bowl tournament -- Texas-El Paso, South Carolina-Upstate and TBA are the other three teams. Why does TBA seem like a more harrowing foe than South Carolina-Upstate?

-- Patrick Stevens

Maryland shifted into two-a-days yesterday, the first of six doubleheader practices for the Terrapins as they careen toward a Sept. 1 opener against Villanova.

The second session yesterday doubled as the team's first intrasquad scrimmage of camp, and the quarterback situation seems like it is set in a status quo.

Jordan Steffy was 8-for-11 for 113 yards and an interception. Josh Portis was 11-for-13 for 106 yards and a touchdown. Chris Turner was 8-for-13 for 82 yards. By the way, that's the order the three quarterbacks were listed on the stat sheet.

"It went pretty good," coach Ralph Friedgen said. "We had very few penalties. The officials said it was very clean. I think we only had two turnovers. The offense probably did better than I anticipated."

Friedgen said he would look at the tape, but seemed inclined to make a decision soon. Since there has been virtually no frustration expressed about Steffy -- in fact, Ralph went out of his way to promote his game management -- it would appear he's going to be locked in as the starter for the opener sometime soon.

As for some other positions, kickers Obi Egekeze and Travis Baltz both were 1-for-2 on field goal attempts. Tailback Keon Lattimore, who Friedgen insisted for the third time in less than a week looks faster, scored two touchdowns and ran for 21 yards on eight carries; Lance Ball had seven carries for 28 yards and a score.

The Terps had 37 plays for the first team, 40 for the second bunch, 28 for the third group and almost 20 for the fourth team. The big fella actually cut things short, passing on a goal line drill as he saw his players getting tired and one of his few tailbacks forced to line up behind an ultra-inexperienced line.

"People's lives were in jeopardy," Friedgen said. "These guys were turning people free all over the place, and I've only got four running backs. At the end of the game, I just threw the ball because I was afraid of someone getting hurt. That was the least chance of them getting hurt."

A couple guys on offense who did little were Darrius Heyward-Bey and Danny Oquendo, though not much should be read into that. Heyward-Bey only took 15 snaps as Friedgen wanted to see what some younger guys could do.

Defensively, linebacker Dave Philistin and cornerback Anthony Wiseman stood out to Friedgen.

What might be most welcome was the lack of errors. There were no delay of game calls, just one fumbled snap and one substitution mistake for both the offense and defense. Ralph won't like that come September and beyond, but as a starting point it could be a whole lot worse.

The Terps have today off -- sort of. There's no practice, but coaches will still dissect scrimmage film and conduct meetings in the evening. Players have an optional devotional Ralph pushed from 10 a.m. to noon, hoping to improve attendance if he "didn’t infringe on their sleep."

If he REALLY didn't want to do that, he wouldn't have another two-a-day scheduled for Monday.

-- Patrick Stevens

Of all the things in Maryland's offense that athletic quarterback Josh Portis should do well, running the option should be high on the list.

Or so you'd think. Instead, presumptive starter Jordan Steffy seems to be more than his equal in that area as well.

"What disappointed me a little bit about Josh is we're running the option better, but Jordan is running it better than he is," coach Ralph Friedgen said. "That should be his forte. It's little things, it's footwork and it's reads. I told him most of the people are going to make you hand the ball off, but he wants to run it so bad he pulls it anyway and then we have a dead play. It'll come eventually."

This is intriguing on several levels. First of all, any reason to think Portis was going to win this job outright at the start of the season should be pretty much gone. Steffy said from the start that it's his job. While everyone else is being careful not to pass judgment, lest they face the Wrath of Ralph (a potential movie that would probably not star Ricardo Montalban), it's pretty clear Steffy was completely correct.

But if Steffy is running the option better than Portis, chances are Ralph won't bother with a two-quarterback setup depending on the situation to begin the season. You have heard they're all the rage after Chris Leak and Tim Tebow helped collect a national championship last year for Florida -- Portis' old school.

-- Patrick Stevens

Finally, another piece to Maryland's basketball schedule falls into place.

According to the Florida Times-Union, North Florida will be Maryland's opening opponent in the CBE Classic on Nov. 11 at Comcast Center. The Ospreys, a third-year Division I team, ranked 333rd out of 336 teams in the RPI last season, and endured a 22-game losing streak. Yikes!

The other two schools in Maryland's CBE regional are Hampton and Tulsa. Hampton's spot in the regional was already known, while Tulsa (18-11, RPI: 118) is the Terrapins' likely second opponent of the season.

* Then there's further confirmation of a date that's floated around since May. Ohio University will come to Comcast Center on Dec. 12 for a midweek game before exams start. The Bobcats went 18-13 (RPI: 105) last year, which is precisely the type of team Maryland should be playing in its nonconference schedule: A good, solid team unlikely to damage its strength of schedule come March.

For the record, here is a partial nonconference schedule for the Terps:

Nov. 11 vs. North Florida
Nov. 12 vs. Hampton/Tulsa
Nov. 19 CBE Classic semifinals in Kansas City, Mo.
Nov. 20 CBE Classic final in Kansas City, Mo.
Nov. 28 vs. Illinois
Dec. 2 BB&T Classic (opponent TBA)
Dec. 12 vs. Ohio
Jan. 5 at Charlotte

* Here's a game with a great storyline: Michigan travels to Harvard on Dec. 1 as former Wolverines coach Tommy Amaker gets a crack at his former school; so says the Detroit News. Amaker was dismissed last season and landed with the Crimson.

-- Patrick Stevens

Maryland is into its second week of practice today, with coach Ralph Friedgen moving around some of his offensive chess pieces.

He's switched Darrius Heyward-Bey from the Z receiver position to X, which is a fancy way of saying Heyward-Bey is moving from the side with more of the field to the side closest to sideline. Isaiah Williams was switched from X to Z, and the fallout of the move is that Danny Oquendo will likely play in the slot for the most part.

"It's kind of an experiment," Friedgen said. "We're just seeing. We want to be able to move Heyward-Bey around anyway. Darrius would easily learn X as opposed to LaQuan [Williams], who's just struggling to learn Z. If we move Heyward-Bey to X, that gives us a good speed guy into the boundary and a good blocker."

Among the other shifting, redshirt freshman Emani Lee-Odai (normally a Z) is working at slot.

On the injury front, Friedgen said linebacker Rick Costa and cornerback Anthony Wiseman are both trying to move past concussions, though he expects both of them back fairly soon (Costa perhaps as early as this afternoon). Tailbacks Da'Rel Scott and Morgan Green were also absent from the first five periods of practice and Friedgen simply described them as "a little nicked up."

There was also a rundown of the top position battles in camp, notably:

* Right tackle, where Friedgen insisted Jack Griffin is pushing Dane Randolph

* Middle linebacker, where Chase Bullock is trying to fend off Dave Philistin. Bullock said the two were splitting reps at this point.

* LEO, the Terps' hybrid defensive end/linebacker position. Trey Covington and Alex Wujciak seem destined to split time there.

* Quarterback, which is no surprise. One interesting tidbit from practice: During stretching drills, players at each position line up in their order on the depth chart. Likely starter Jordan Steffy was in the front row, but directly behind him was Chris Turner. Florida transfer Josh Portis was third. Read into it what you wish.

-- Patrick Stevens

Or fourth-string quarterback. Your choice on how to describe Bobby Sheahin, the walk-on who decided to transfer to Division III Salisbury over the weekend.

Apparently, it makes quite a difference. With the Terps down to four quarterbacks, coach Ralph Friedgen is going to be forced to cancel a Sept. 14 JV game he scheduled with Hargrave Military Academy.

"It affects us," Friedgen said today. "What disappoints me on that is I had three years with Bobby and he was really starting to develop. He could have been a factor in this thing. He has a strong arm and he can run. I just felt like I put a lot of time and effort into him, and for him to leave like that doesn't help our situation."

The Terps opened the spring with an abundance of quarterbacks, but freshman Jeremy Ricker decided to transfer even before the spring game. Now Sheahin's gone, too, leaving the Terps with Jordan Steffy, Chris Turner, Josh Portis and freshman Jamarr Robinson.

Friedgen was, to say the least, irked. If the decision came down in the offseason, it probably would have been easier to handle.

"Bobby wants to play like everyone else. Bobby's problem is his learning," Friedgen said. "He's going to go to another school now with two weeks before they're going to play their first game. He might have the talent to play, which I think he does. He says 'It's not a pro offense,' I'm sure they're not playing Pop Warner there, either. He could end up sitting on the bench for somebody else, too."

The Terps also lost walk-on linebacker Brian Dickerson. With the two absences, Friedgen plans to bring in walk-on running back Dan Bonato and another undetermined player to fill up the NCAA maximum of 105 guys in camp.

-- Patrick Stevens

The trickle of college basketball schedule continues ...

* Pseudo-local Richmond will welcome Virginia Tech to the Robins Center on Jan. 3, and also brings in South Florida on Dec. 5.

The most amazing thing about the Spiders' slate? That they don't leave the state of Virginia from Nov. 28 to the start of conference play. That is rather surprising for any mid-major other than those with a large supply of major programs within state lines.

-- Patrick Stevens

There's a little more red in Byrd Stadium and a little less Carolina blue.

The temporary bleachers imported each season were green in years past. This year, they're red -- which will go nicely with a handful of extra rails being painted in the same color.

Meanwhile, the Carolina blue roofs athletic director Debbie Yow remains puzzled about are undergoing a makeover as you read this. They're getting a new coat of brown paint, which if not terribly attractive at least isn't a hue of a conference rival.

-- Patrick Stevens

Might as well pass along some lacrosse news to help a hot summer day move a bit faster.

The NCAA awarded the 2008 quarterfinals to Navy and Cornell, in that order. It's the second straight year the quarterfinals landed in Annapolis, and the first time they've been at Cornell since a pair of one-goal thrillers in 2004 (Navy-Cornell and Syracuse-Georgetown).

It isn't quite as friendly a schedule for fans to catch both quarterfinal sites as this past spring (Princeton and Annapolis), but still is a doable trip.

As for 2009, the quarterfinals will head to Hofstra and a site to be determined.

-- Patrick Stevens

Another day in August, another batch of schedules popping up for the college basketball season.

* The Big "Ten" released its conference schedule today, with all 99 league games making it onto a broadcast outlet of some kind. Nearly two-third will be televised on the new Big Ten Network, otherwise known as the official home of Northwestern and Penn State hoops.

* Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Indiana will welcome Kentucky into Assembly Hall for the first time since 1990

* Illinois will play host to pseudo-local Loyola on Dec. 28.

And elsewhere. ...

* Looks like American will open Nov. 10 at St. Francis (Pa.). The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat has a short blurb detailing the Red Flash's schedule.

* Presbyterian, a small South Carolina school beginning a transition to Division I, has signed on for a brutal schedule of paydays, according to The (Columbia) State. Among the stops: Nebraska, New Mexico, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Georgia and Auburn.

-- Patrick Stevens

Reporters talked in the last hour with Ralph Friedgen, who was in a truly sour post-practice mood for the first time during Maryland's camp.

The big fella seems a bit closer to shaking out his special teams situation. Junior Obi Egekeze has nosed into the lead for the field goal and PAT duties, while true freshman Travis Baltz is the likely choice at punter. Chris Roberts looks to have a firm grasp on the kickoffs job, just as he did entering camp.

The quarterback decision also seems to be near, and it will likely be Jordan Steffy. However, Friedgen wants to see at least a scrimmage-like situation in Thursday's practice and perhaps even Saturday's scrimmage to make a call between Steffy, Josh Portis and Chris Turner.

More to come a bit later; I just got done talking to a couple players in the surprisingly frigid offensive line meeting room. This place is a veritable igloo compared to everything else associated with camp.

-- Patrick Stevens

Last week, veteran Maryland football team manager John Bonacci (an upbeat Staten Island native who is already looking forward to his own personal homecoming game Sept. 29 at Rutgers) described the schedule of a rough practice as 25 frowns, one for each period and an extra one for good measure.

From the sounds of things, today's session had plenty of frowns.

It's usually not a good sign when Ralph Friedgen opens up his post-practice media session with "What's up. Whaddaya got?" That's usually a sign he's like to pass Go and retreat to a place where the media won't badger him with silly questions about cover-2 defenses (yeah, that was me) and other stuff.

If it wasn't obvious enough, he offered up a pretty clear description of the day at practice to a benign question of how things went.

"Defense played very well today," Friedgen said. "Kicked the offense's [butt] today. Outhustled them, out-toughed them. Just kicked them all over the field."

A head coach doesn't like that. An offensive coordinator likes it less. And Ralph, a combination of both, likes it least.

So the tenor of the day was set, though Ralph did concede he is getting closer to making a call at quarterback.

"I'm going to have a mock scrimmage on Thursday," Friedgen said. "I want to give all of them another opportunity to see how they operate with signals without the coaches on the field. We'll run it like a game.