With a little more than two weeks until the start of the 2012 college football season, the Maryland Terrapins were dealt a huge injury blow on Wednesday. The Terps announced that starting quarterback C.J. Brown was lost for the season after he tore his ACL during a non-contact drill on Tuesday night.
Brown's backup was still to be determined, but it was almost certainly going to be one of two true freshman: Perry Mills or Caleb Rowe. Ben Broman of SB Nation's Maryland blog, Testudo Times, discussed the implications of Brown's injury and turning to a true freshman in College Park:
You can think C.J. was a pretty crappy QB, and maybe he was. I know I disagree with that, but hey, to each their own. But you can't say he wasn't a significantly better option than the unproven, relatively unknown and un-touted(?) freshmen on offer. Borderline disastrous.
I guess Perry Hills will be the starter for the moment, but it's about to be a full-on battle with he and Caleb Rowe. The good news, I guess, is that it doesn't change the paradigm for Maryland too much: still based on the running game, but now even more pulled in with the passing game.
Brown was part of a revolving door at quarterback last season, as Randy Edsall tried to get any momentum going on the offensive side of the ball during a disastrous first season in College Park. The other QB who was a part of that rotation, Danny O'Brien, went through a much-publicized transfer process and is now playing for Wisconsin.
Stay with SB Nation DC for more as this story develops. For more on Maryland football and how this injury affects the Terps, visit Testudo Times.