The Maryland football team knows its chances of a winning season are done. What it isn’t sure of is who will play quarterback to start a three-game stretch doubling as the end of a frustrating fall and a springboard to 2010.
The status of Chris Turner, who has started 29 of Maryland’s past 30 games, remains uncertain a day after the senior left with a left knee injury in a 38-31 loss at N.C. State. Sophomore Jamarr Robinson completed the game while receiving his first extended playing time.
“Chris is still questionable,” coach Ralph Friedgen said Sunday. “There’s a chance, but we’ll have to see.”
Friedgen, who said after the game Turner had an MCL sprain, anticipated the quarterback will be evaluated “each and every day.” He also said Turner did not undergo an MRI exam Sunday.
If Turner is unable to play Saturday when the Terrapins (2-7, 1-4 ACC) host Virginia Tech (6-3, 3-2), Robinson likely would draw his first career start.
Robinson’s last regular playing time came in 2005, when he was a high school senior in Charlotte, N.C. He grayshirted in 2006, redshirted in 2007 and barely played the past two seasons before Turner’s injury.
Robinson exhibited some nerves early in his appearance, missing on his first four pass attempts. However, he took Maryland into N.C. State territory while trying to engineer a tying drive in the final minute and finished with a team-high 38 rushing yards.
“I thought he made a few mistakes,” Friedgen said. “This being his first time and given his lack of experience, I thought he competed hard.”
Robinson threw the first passes of his career in the loss, an interesting lack of work on several levels. He was a regular on road trips since arriving on campus, and until Saturday the Terps had no quarterbacks with passing experience at Maryland besides Turner.
Offensive coordinator James Franklin said many times this season that Robinson was part of the game plan nearly every week, but his appearances were confined to one- or two-play cameos as a change of pace.
That might change Saturday.
“I’m preparing now more realistically than I have in the past, being that I had to finish this out and I know what it’s like a little bit more and [I’ll] take it more seriously,” Robinson said.
Turner’s injury is the latest in a series of damaging losses for Maryland, which has lost four straight for the first time since 1999. Cornerback Nolan Carroll, linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield and tailback Da’Rel Scott are all out with injuries, and punter Travis Baltz, tackle Bruce Campbell and safety Jamari McCollough all missed multiple games earlier this season.
The possible absence of Turner, though, could have repercussions beyond this year.
Rather than allowing Robinson to get acclimated to playing, he was immersed in the game Saturday and could be for the rest of the month. It also creates the possibility of using true freshman Danny O’Brien should Robinson also suffer an injury, a situation that would cost O’Brien a year of eligibility for some snaps late in a lost season.
Friedgen remained mum on most questions about Turner, including how long the Terps are willing to wait to make a decision on his availability this week.
“We’re going to do what we got to do,” Friedgen said. “We’ll take it as long as we have to take. We’ll look at our game play and see what we can do and see how it progresses.”
Note - Friedgen said after talking with defensive end Isaiah Ross (torn right ACL) that he does not believe the freshman was injured on a dirty play. It didn’t change Friedgen’s unhappiness about the physical treatment Ross received from an N.C. State lineman after the play.
“I thought he got hurt at that time, and that wasn’t the case,” Friedgen said. “I did think it was unnecessary roughness, but after talking to Isaiah, he said he didn’t get hurt at that time - which to me, is making it worse. The kid’s in pain, [and] they’re working him over.”
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