Maryland Football: Offense won’t change with Kasim Hill

Kasim Hill was named Maryland’s starting quarterback after D.J. Durkin revealed that Tyrrell Pigrome will miss the rest of the 2017 season with a torn ACL.

Regardless, the offense isn’t going to change very much under the direction of Hill. Hill took over at the end of the first quarter after Pigrome went down awkwardly and immediately grabbed at his knee.

Maryland got a brief test drive of what Hill brings to the table in their 51-41 win over Texas last Saturday. Hill completed 3-of-3 passes for 44 yards while also rushing for a three-yard touchdown that extended the team’s lead to double digits.

“It really doesn’t change at all. Kasim – he prepares the same every day,” Durkin said. “He’s been like a veteran guy since day one when he got here. All last week he prepared like he was the starter, and you could see when he went in the game”

Hill really did look like a veteran throughout that fourth quarter for the Terrapins. Oftentimes, when true freshman quarterbacks come into a game, you can tell that their nerves are getting the better of them.

The former St. John’s College (D.C.) standout didn’t try and force anything. If he didn’t see an open receiver, he wasn’t afraid to tuck the ball and run.

The most impressive play was his ability to make a great throw on a 3rd-and-19. After taking a delay of game penalty, Hill bounced back to find D.J. Moore, who ran after the catch and put Maryland all the way down at the Texas seven-yard line.

Hill put the ball right in the upper body of Moore and Moore did the rest.

“He did an unbelievable job leading the offense and taking us down the field, converting on the third-and-19,” Durkin said. “That was a three point game, and it’s third-and-19 and he hits D.J. Moore down the sideline and we go on to score a couple plays later, that’s huge right there. Because if we don’t get that, we’re now punting with a three point lead and they get the ball back.”

Making plays like that in the guts of the game for a true freshman is absolutely sensational. Hill shook off what could’ve been a deflating penalty and delivered an absolute strike when the game hung in the balance.

Maryland was just inside of Texas territory prior to that big third down play, so if they didn’t convert, Texas could’ve gotten the ball back and maybe took the lead. To Hill’s credit, he proved that wasn’t too afraid of the moment and made one of the defining plays of the entire game.

While it wasn’t a huge sample size, it was easy to see why the Terps’ coaching staff was so impressed with Hill during training camp.

Next: Maryland Football: Tyrrell Pigrome will miss 2017 season

“He’ll prepare the same way this week as he did last week, although he’ll be getting more reps with the ones obviously,” Durkin added. “He’s the starter. He’s the guy. We can do everything we want to do in our offense with him, and we will. We’re going to put that on him.”