Davis suspended, Edmunds injured, Hills day-to-day
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland will be without one member of its prolific rushing attack and a special team’s starter this Saturday against Minnesota--one due to injury and the other suspension--but Terps quarterback Perry Hills is on track to play against the Golden Gophers, head coach D.J. Durkin told reporters at his weekly press conference Oct. 11.
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Grad-transfer tailback Trey Edmunds will be sidelined for an extended period of time after feeling discomfort in his foot at yesterday’s practice, which led to an X-ray and the discovery of a stress fracture.
“It is very unfortunate that [running back] Trey Edmunds has suffered a fracture in his foot,” Durkin said. “He’ll be out several weeks. He’s going to have surgery to get that fixed. This really hurts me. There isn’t a finer young man. Trey has done everything he has been asked to do since he has been here. He’s been a great leader and plays unselfish football. I really feel for him. That’s a senior who is going to have a significant amount of playing time taken from him.”
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Redshirt freshman Isaiah Davis--younger brother of former Terps and now Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Sean Davis--was ejected from last weekend’s game against Penn State after a an unnecessary hit on Nittany Lions kicker Joey Julius during a kickoff return.
Durkin said after the game that he would have benched Davis for the rest of the game even if he hadn’t been ejected, but the Terps’ headman did decide to levy a punishment of his own to his special teams standout.
“One thing that I wanted to talk about was this hit from Isaiah Davis on Penn State’s kicker,” Durkin said. “I have suspended Isaiah for the Minnesota game. Isaiah is a starter on three out of four phases of our special teams, and he will not participate in this game. Isaiah is a great young man and great member of this team. He made a poor decision.
“We are a work in progress when it comes to figuring out what our team is about and what our culture is about. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to our guys about respecting the game we play and respecting our team. I can take aggressive penalties in a game. There are things that happen fast in a football game that are hard to avoid. This was different. There’s no room for that in the great game of college football that we all get to be a part of. This is a teachable moment that we’re going to use for our team.
While the Terps will be without two key members of their team Saturday, it does appear that they will have senior signal caller Perry Hills under center against Minnesota.
“Perry is day-to-day right now,” Durkin said. “He’ll remain that way all week. I don’t know if there’s a tougher guy out there than Perry Hills. He was fighting like crazy to get back in that game. I made a decision, in his best interest as a person, to not let him go back in there. He wasn’t equipped to play. He took another significant hit on the shoulder. If we had a game here in an hour, Perry would be ready to play. Fortunately, we have a couple days.”
The Golden Gophers’ quarterback situation ahead of their meeting with the Terps this weekend is not as fortunate. News broke just before Durkin’s press conference that Minnesota’s starting quarterback Mitch Leidner will miss Saturday’s game with a concussion.
But Durkin was adamant that Maryland’s defensive gameplan won’t change because of Leidner’s injury.
“I heard that about 15 minutes ago, so our gameplan hasn’t changed much yet,” Durkin said. “I didn’t notice any injuries to him while watching the tape, but I did recently hear that he will be out. Unfortunately, injuries are a part of our game. It’s man down, man up. I’m sure they have the same approach in Minnesota. They’re an extremely well coached team. Tracy [Claeys] does an unbelievable job. We’re going to prepare the same way. They have a great scheme that will be difficult to prepare for no matter who is playing quarterback.”