As promised, here's an update on Maryland's quarterback situation.
Ralph talked about it a little bit during an ACC conference call. During that questioning, he said Chris Turner held "a slight edge" over Jordan Steffy, with Josh Portis coming on in The Amazing Three-Way Quarterback Race, Part II.
He clarified it a bit later, saying "We’d like to settle on a guy, but right now it’s very, very close."
So that supports the idea that a starter won't be named by the end of Saturday's spring game, and that is definitely Friedgen's M.O.
I brought up the topic of Steffy at today's sparsely attended press conference, especially since he doesn't have nearly the same number of good things to build upon than Turner does. Turner helped engineer upsets of Rutgers and Boston College; Steffy was knocked out of the Rutgers game with a concussion and threw a game-changing pick at Wake Forest that was so damaging that Friedgen could refer to "the interception" and everyone knew exactly what he was referring to.
But Friedgen seems to believe that's in the past and insists it is a race that remains too cloe to call.
"There was one time last year where he was playing not to make a mistake," Friedgen said. "I haven't seen that this spring. I've seen him more aggressive. Today we were talking about quarterback stats, and 25 percent of his throws were for 16 yards or more, so he's throwing the deep ball better. I see him back attacking people. I think he's had a good spring. I think he has to be able to be aggressive when he plays and not be defensive. He's done a very good job for us. He's an excellent player in our program. I just see him maturing in the time he's been here and being a very good student. He's just a very dedicated kid that works very hard every single day. I have nothing but high hopes for Jordan Steffy."
--- Patrick Stevens
Comments (2)
Patrick, do you think Friedgen owes something of a shot to Steffy, considering how highly he was regarded coming out of high school? Friedgen opted to give Joel Statham (mistake) the starting job for a season until he was out of the program. I guess my question is, do you think Steffy would be further along of he got a shot in his first two years instead of Statham and Hollenbach? Maybe they don't have that win over FSU, but they still didn't make a bowl game either season.
Posted by Scott | April 22, 2008 4:03 PM
Scott---
I'm not so sure Steffy would have been any better off if Friedgen just handed him the job from Day One.
Would the knee injury still have happened, sapping him of some of the athleticism he brought to college? Would he have rolled up a bunch of concussions? It's tough to tell. But certainly, those two factors emerged even from limited playing time in 2004.
If you rationally assess Steffy's performance last year, his biggest problem was not arm strength, nor was it big-play ability. It wasn't even the eagerness to check down on many plays, even though all those reasons were pointed to as reasons to gripe (and in varying degrees, they were things worth analyzing).
Steffy's greatest problem was the number of sacks he took, and the defensive and skittish play that ensued because of the pounding. Extra experience might have helped him improve his vision of the field and sense of the game by that time. But it wouldn't have made him taller, and his struggles to see over his gargantuan line played a role in last year's struggles, too.
I don't think Ralph owes Steffy anything, or that he necessarily feels he owes Steffy anything but a fair shot. But I also think he has a sort of affection for the kid that we haven't seen (publicly, anyway) for any quarterback over the last few years.
Certainly, there was frustration with Joel Statham (much of it deserved). I never got the sense Ralph entirely appreciated Sam Hollenbach while he was around, and there was a little deja vu in how he handled Chris Turner at times last fall.
Ralph pretty clearly would like to see Steffy enjoy some sort of success before he leaves. But I don't think Friedgen feels indebted to force it into happening next fall.
Posted by Patrick Stevens | April 22, 2008 8:42 PM