You know the old saying "When it rains it pours," right? Well, it must be raining all sorts of crazy stuff in College Park these days as it was announced yesterday that likely 2012 starting QB C.J. Brown is out for the season with a torn ACL.
It apparently happened in a non-contact drill (side note – when do QB's ever take contact in training camp) on Tuesday night and the school confirmed it on Wednesday morning.
In a release by the athletic department Head Coach Randy Edsall had this to say:
"I feel terrible for C.J. He's worked incredibly hard to be the starting quarterback of this team. He's stepped up and been a tremendous leader. We'll do everything we can to make sure he gets the best treatment to help in his recovery."
Brown was to be a redshirt junior this season and thus will need to apply for a waiver to get the extra year of eligibility back from the NCAA. He saw action in 10 games last season, making 5 starts for the Terps.
He finished 2011 completing just 49.4% of his passes for 842 yards while throwing for 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
With Tuesdays news Terrapins fans have to be thinking that the college football gods are just piling on at this point because it's safe to say the Randy Edsall era at Maryland hasn't exactly gotten off to a flying start.
Between the 2-10 1st season , the player transfers this offseason, the god awful uniforms from Under Armour, and now this, surely, it's like a kick to the gut of an already wounded animal in Randy Edsall.
By all accounts Brown was looking much better and was the clear front runner to be the starter in 2012. He is a dual-threat QB and with any ACL surgery there has to be a question about losing some of that mobility once he comes back to the team.
So, moving forward on the field the Terps must turn to a pair of freshman signal callers as gone is part-time starter Danny O'Brien who graduated from Maryland and transferred to Wisconsin in the offseason.
Those freshman battling it out are true freshman as well in Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe. They were battling it out for the No. 2 spot and according to Edsall Hills was beginning to emerge as the likely backup. He'll get the first crack at starting, but Terps fans could be in for one heck of a long season with a true freshman behind center on a team coming off of a disastrous season.