Maryland Football Injury Update
Someone needs to do some research to check in on whether or not Maryland built that new turf on a recently discovered Indian burial ground or something. Today, Jakob Engelke of Inside Maryland reports that the Terrapins will lose a whole lot more than CJ Brown heading into the 2012 season:
The Terps just took a serious heel to the groin.
Losing Andre Monroe is going to hurt a lot because he was a darn good young pass rusher, finishing last season as a freshman All-America selection, not to mention being second All-American by Rivals.com and College Football News.com. He was a versatile rusher who could play two positions, and was expected to have a very, very big year as a full time starter this season. You’ve got to feel for the guy, especially because Monroe stuck around through coaching changes (he was recruited by James Franklin).
Losing Keith Bowers for any extended amount of time stinks, too, because yet another likely starter on the defensive line is sitting out now, too. That promising, young line is being eaten alive by injuries. Bowers didn’t play full time last season, but was pretty impressive when he did and looked to take on a much more prominent role this season. Now, that’s going to have to wait as he recovers from injury.
But it doesn’t stop there, as safety A.J. Hendy, another young gun and heavy hitter in the secondary is going to be out three-to-four weeks as well. Hendy was the guy who tore it up against Notre Dame last season for 13 tackles, and was another guy who was poised to step into a much bigger role. That’s going to be put on hold now, as his ankle isn’t right. Which means the starting safety in Matt Robinson and his replacement (Hendy) are now both hurt, which means Clarence Claiborne steps in (maybe). Claiborne is a senior who hasn’t seen any action throughout his career, really, but at least he likely knows the game by now.
Back to the defensive line before we get to the really tough news (yes, this is still not the worst news). DL Isaiah Ross has apparently injured his hamstring, and what may have seemed like a minor injury earlier in the day now becomes even more serious. Even the replacements are getting hurt, and if Ross can’t make a speedy recovery Randy Edsall is going to have to get extremely creative with his defensive line. That type of thing never comes out pretty.
Finally, the amazing Kenny Tate is causing all Terp fans to completely freak out as it’s being reported that he has re-injured his knee. Obviously, I’d like to stress to everyone that it might just be a minor injury that won’t keep him out for a long time. They could be taking an extremely cautious approach with Tate, and that’s why it seems so terrible. He could just be experiencing a bit of soreness. But then again, surgically repaired knees don’t get sore, they get hurt and have a hard time getting right.
No one needs to be told what an injury to Tate means for this program, especially with this rash of new injuries. With any hope, Tate is just going to have to take it easy for a bit before stepping back in. If not, then it’s going to be a very frustrating year for everyone involved on the defense.
The good news (or bad news) is that Randy’s seat just got a little cooler, as it’s hard to expect anyone to thrive under these conditions. (Although it can be stated that by his “Get with the program or get out” approach, we lost valuable talent that could have otherwise filled in for these injuries…but that’s besides the point.)