Maryland Football: Fall practice ends with a big question

The Maryland football team ended fall camp with an open scrimmage to the public on Saturday.

As both sides battles for position on the gridiron, the one big question remains who will be the starting quarterback when Maryland faces Texas on Sept. 2.

The quarterback race is seemingly down to just two candidates in true freshman Kasim Hill and sophomore Tyrrell Pigrome. North Carolina transfer Caleb Henderson, who was thought to take control of the job, has been sidelined with a foot injury that was originally suffered back in April.

During the scrimmage, both Hill and Pigrome took snaps with the first and second team offensive lines. They took up nearly 70 percent of the reps with Max Bortenschlager and Ryan Brand getting a few serieses, but clearly weren’t the focus.

Hill looks like he’s 90 percent there due to missing a few throws, but that will come with time. His football IQ will be a pleasant change for Terp fans, as he did not try to force any balls, and was comfortable just throwing it out of bounds.

Pigrome showed vast improvements with his arm and timing, while also using the same speed that made him deadly at times last year.

The big question is: does coach D.J. Durkin want to start a true freshman on the road in Austin?

It’s hard to picture a successful start to Hill’s career if he happens to get read like a book by the Longhorns, so holding him behind Pigrome may not be a bad shout. If you look at USC last year, they let Sam Darnold sit for their first four games before throwing him into the starting role.

Simply waiting until Hill can face a team like Towson or Central Florida can help build confidence and momentum, rather than killing any hope from the start.

The only real question outside of that is the offensive line, but they will certainly come together once they have a signal caller and can work as a unit. Durkin kept switching guys around the different positions, which made it hard for the line and quarterbacks to get in a rhythm.

True freshmen Marcus Minor and Jordan McNair looked primed to keep competing for a starting role, or be ready to fill in for possible injuries.

The defense looked stellar, showing great blitzes as well as a secondary that forced many stops. Taking advantage of the offensive line shuffling around was easy for the defense, as they had many untouched guys bolting in on the quarterbacks.

Whenever the line did it’s job, Hill and Pigrome found themselves needing to thread a needle, throw it out of bounds or run.

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Simply put, once Durkin and offensive coordinator Walt Bell find a signal caller for the Texas game, this team can really get to work on improving from a 6-6 mark last season. With a defense primed to show up and weapons on offense, all it will take is some chemistry to build between the line and quarterback.