O’Brien, Terps start practice in quite a hurry

To see the Terrapin football team's offense hurry around the field Tuesday after a long summer of waiting for this week's preseason opener probably wasn't much of a surprise.

But by the Terps' season opener Sept. 5 against Miami, that same up-tempo pace will become an expectation in College Park and around the ACC. The team's revamped offense was on public display for the first time under coach Randy Edsall this week as the Terps completed their first official, two-hour practice of the summer.

With their coaches opting for rapidity over reflection, quarterback Danny O'Brien and his backups followed one play with another in brisk succession. There was hardly time for receivers to huddle, much less catch their breath after downfield routes.

"We built a lot of chemistry up this summer on our own, getting the pass plays down and getting familiar with not just the receivers, but the concepts we're running," O'Brien said afterward. "And we made some plays in practice that we wouldn't have made in the spring."

O'Brien looked especially sharp under center in the Terps' first practice, which Edsall characterized as a "good start."

"He's just got to continue to get better in all phases of the game. I think he'd be the first to tell you that. He is not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination, and all Danny wants to do is continue to get better in everything," Edsall said. "He's a guy that strives for perfection and knows that he's still not at that level that he still wants to be, or the level that his ability allows him to be at."

DeSOUZA BACK

Ten months after a life-threatening and career-altering scooter accident, offensive lineman Pete DeSouza was back jogging across the Terps' practice field Tuesday, a significant milepost in his road to recovery.

DeSouza, who suffered two broken legs in an on-campus crash last October, has been cleared for full contact in preseason practice, but Edsall said last week he will be monitored closely.

"It's great that he's cleared, but being cleared and functionally playing the game at the level that you have to play it and with the quickness and explosion you're going to have to have as an offensive lineman, that is what's going to be evaluated as we go out there starting on [Tuesday]," Edsall said. "Can he function to the level so he can be successful and not put himself in any kind of danger or anybody else?"

ODDS AND ENDS

Freshman defensive end Quinton Jefferson will defer enrolling until next semester due to a "medical issue," Edsall said Tuesday. Jefferson, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound Pittsburgh native, was a three-star prospect, according to Rivals.com.

Justin Anderson was moved back to defensive end after opening the summer listed as a defensive tackle. It's nothing new for the rising junior, who vacillated between interior and outside positions this spring.

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