Notebook: Under Edsall, Tate moving in

The Terrapin football team has plenty of experience left over from last season on the defensive side of the ball, where it returns seven of 11 starters.

What remains to be seen, though, is how that experience will translate to the field this fall, especially as two of the team's top defensive players — Kenny Tate and Demetrius Hartsfield — transition to different spots on the field.

Early in the Terps' spring football schedule, it seems that all is going according to plan.

Tate, an All-ACC safety a year ago, has been slotted as the Terps' "star" position, a linebacker-safety hybrid. Hartsfield, meanwhile, has moved from his starting outside-linebacker spot to middle linebacker to fill the void left by the graduation of All-ACC linebacker Alex Wujciak.

Coach Randy Edsall said the two moves, along with David Mackall's switch from linebacker to defensive end, give the Terps their best possible combination defensively.

"I really like the move of David Mackall and Kenny Tate," Edsall said in a teleconference Monday. "I think they're right in the exact spots for their abilities, plus for what we want to do schematically on defense and to get our best 11 people on the field."

Tate's transition is expected to be a smooth one. The one-time wide receiver often found himself around the line of scrimmage last season as the Terps' starting free safety.

"I really wasn't playing a traditional safety. I did play linebacker some downs," Tate said last week. "I don't see it as a change at all."

Hartsfield, on the other hand, may have a longer road ahead of him. While he gained plenty of experience around the line of scrimmage in his first two seasons, he'll have to adjust to an entirely new look on the field in the middle while also learning an entirely new defense.

Still, Edsall's confident the redshirt junior's switch will end well, too, and that all he needs to get comfortable in his new spot is a matter of time.

"It's just a matter of repetitions for Demetrius," Edsall said. "He understands what's going on in there, but again, it's just seeing everything and just reacting to it. He'll be fine in my opinion."

RECEIVER REVAMP

Quarterback Danny O'Brien's ACC Rookie of the Year campaign last season was due in large part to the efforts of his two favorite targets — wide receivers Torrey Smith and Adrian Cannon.

With the departure of both Smith (NFL Draft) and Cannon (graduation), the task for O'Brien and the Terps' coaching staff now becomes one of finding new targets downfield.

And although the team's top three returning wide receivers combined for just two starts and 44 receptions last season, Edsall took comfort in an influx of young talent stabilizing a depleted but promising receiving corps.

"The young guys have shown some good things," Edsall said. "It's just repetitions that they need to get. I do like the natural ability that I've seen out of those young men."

O'Brien demonstrated similar faith in the team's young wideouts, a group that includes freshman Devin Burns, Adrian Coxson and Nigel King, adding that they'll only improve after working with the team's more experienced receivers.

"[They] have a great situation, just having old guys ahead of them, being able to learn from them," O'Brien said last week. "They all have a lot of talent and they're extremely hard-working."

O'BRIEN PRESSING?

O'Brien's compusure under center last year was one of his stronger attributes, but the pressure for success may have gotten to him as spring practice began March 29.

"I thought the first day ... he really tried to press too hard," Edsall said. "I told him, ‘Hey, just go out there and have fun.' And he did. He went out and had a better day on Thursday."

Handling the added pressures following his impressive freshman year, though, is not the only problem facing O'Brien.

With a new coach in Edsall and a new offensive coordinator in Gary Crowton, he's also faced with the responsibility of learning a brand-new offense.

"It's been a process. It's probably tougher than learning your first offense," O'Brien said. "A lot of it's pretty similar. It's just getting the terminology."

cwalsh@umdbk.com