It's spring football time in College Park, and Ralph Friedgen had a presser today talking about a variety of topics --- mostly of his choosing.

There was even a powerpoint presentation lining up all of the program's accomplishments over the last seven years. It's something I haven't seen out of Ralph before, and the only two words I could think of to describe it were "insecurity" and "off-putting." I'll have the nuts and bolts of all the slides later, but the highlight to me was contrasting "1986-2000" and "2001-2007." Didn't expect to see that.

A factoid unsurprisingly left off: Three losing seasons in four years. This fall is a big one for Ralph, especially as work on Byrd Stadium (the new scoreboard is up in the closed end zone) continues.

Here's some quick hitters that will pop up at the bottom of my story for tomorrow:

* Junior Chris Turner enters the spring as the No. 1 quarterback ahead of erstwhile starter Jordan Steffy and junior Josh Portis, who was suspended last season.

"He'll go in as No. 1, but it's a wide-open situation," Friedgen said of Turner. "I think that competition is still going to take place."

* Guys missing the spring with injuries: Tackle Tyler Bowen (foot), linebacker Rick Costa (shoulder), linebacker Moise Fokou (shoulder), defensive end Mack Frost (knee), tight end Matt Furtsenberg (shoulder), linebacker Dave Philistin (shoulder) and defensive lineman Joe Vellano (shoulder).

It didn't sound like anyone was missing the spring because of academic issues. Nevertheless, there is a scholarship crunch that I'll delve into a bit deeper once the basketball tournament is over with. The bottom line is there will have to be some level of attrition between now and late August.

* Likely coming back: Holder Matt Goldberg, who will be going to grad school in the fall. Likely changing positions: Dominique Herald, from safety to strong-side linebacker. Likely to be nominated by Ralph for a Rhodes Scholarship: Tight end Dan Gronkowski, who is nearing completion of his MBA.

* Ralph said Josh Portis would not be taking kickoff returns at this juncture. You might recall that idea was toyed with just before last season --- and just before Portis was suspended for the season after cheating on a quiz.

--- Patrick Stevens