Maryland Football: Life without Kasim Hill might not be pretty

Maryland fans held their breath when Kasim Hill laid down on the turf on Saturday.

While coach D.J. Durkin still hasn’t given an update on Hill’s prognosis, life without the freshman quarterback could be painful.

When Tyrrell Pigrome went down in the season opener against Texas, many fans held similar thoughts. Pigrome showed that he improved a ton and now the program was going to be in the hands of a true freshman.

Hill certainly changed a lot of people’s minds right away. The former four-star recruit came in and converted the famous 3rd-and-19 pass to D.J. Moore that ultimately helped lead Maryland to a 51-41 victory over Texas on the road.

There wasn’t going to be a bigger spot to debut in and Hill passed the test with flying colors.

Prior to suffering his leg injury on Saturday, Hill had completed 18-of-21 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. He was averaging 10.95 yards-per-pass while also rushing for 60 yards and a score.

Unfortunately, running the football is what got him injured.

Hill didn’t face much adversity during that brief period as he didn’t turn the ball over at all. The star freshman didn’t seem phased by the moment at all and went through his progressions like a grizzled veteran.

The Terrapins had the total opposite when Max Bortenschlager came into the game last weekend.

Bortenschlager was obviously put in a tough spot, but he couldn’t establish any type of consistency against Central Florida. He was sacked five times on the afternoon.

Maryland had surrendered just three sacks through the first two games. In fact, if that number would’ve stayed the same, the Terps would’ve been one of three teams that allowed three or fewer sacks this season.

The Terps had a luxury in both Pigrome and Hill in terms of their mobility. If there wasn’t an open pass catcher down the field, both have the ability to tuck it down and run.

Bortenschlager isn’t the type of quarterback that anyone is going to confuse Aaron Rodgers when it comes to his rushing ability. The Indiana native’s skillset is quite limited, so either taking a sack or getting rid of the ball are usually his only options.

He also isn’t a gunslinger by any stretch. Bortenschlager isn’t going to chuck the ball 50 yards down the field, which is unfortunately since Maryland has multiple deep threats in Taivon Jacobs and Moore.

If you take out Bortenschlager’s 92-yard touchdown pass to Moore in the Nebraska game last season, his longest collegiate throw is just 20 yards. Ironically, that was Maryland’s lone touchdown in last Saturday’s game, which was made possible by a highlight reel reception from Moore.

It’s expected that Maryland will make the status of Hill public later this week. However, he was still listed as the starter in the team’s depth chart for the Minnesota game.

The Terps certainly have been bit by the injury bug when it comes to the quarterback position in recent years. Maybe Maryland will get some luck and the Hill injury looked worse than it actually is.

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If Bortenschlager ends up having to take significant snaps, it could be a very frustrating year for the Maryland fanbase.