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Every member of the Terrapin football team’s offensive line has heard it. Or read it. Or seen it. They, collectively, encompass one of the team’s biggest question marks heading into the season.
In college football, experience is often linked directly to reliability. And for the Terps, who are replacing five of their top seven offensive linemen from last season, that means a whole lot of uncertainty up front heading into Saturday’s season opener at No. 12 California as heavy underdogs.
This is an offense with a very experienced backfield led by senior quarterback Chris Turner and a budding, deep group of wide receivers. But the offensive line — that concerns coach Ralph Friedgen, as he reiterated throughout most of training camp.
His players, though, don’t want to hear it.
“I guess it’s gotta be [viewed as a question mark],” tackle Paul Pinegar said. “A lot of people looking from the outside see a redshirt freshman at left guard, sophomore at right guard and a walk-on at right tackle, and they think, ‘Oh, jeez — this can’t be good.’ But you’ve gotta be on the inside to see how hard we’re working.”
Pinegar is that now former walk-on right tackle. Sophomore right guard Andrew Gonnella was also just recently awarded a scholarship by Friedgen. Lamar Young will start opposite of Gonnella in his first action with the Terps, leaving returning starters Phil Costa and Bruce Campbell at the anchor positions of an offensive line: center and left tackle, respectively.
The line is a very different one from last year. The 2008 offensive line was led by senior center Edwin Williams, and the opening day lineup featured five seniors who collectively had an average weight of 317.6 pounds. This year, Costa is the lone senior, and the group averages out at 305 pounds.
But more than size or experience, there’s a different aura about this offensive line. Perhaps a result of the criticism, this is a group with a chip on its shoulder.
“We always say we want to be the nastiest line in the ACC,” Gonnella said. “So I think this year, when we’re at practice — yeah, we joke around, we’re all friends — that element’s there, but we’re trying to be serious. We’re trying to stop the joking around and get down to business. We know we have some areas to pick up in. We’re young, and there’s going to be some areas to pick up in.”
The shift starts in the middle, where Costa, who started every game but the opener at right guard last year, takes over for Edwin Williams.
While Williams was regarded as the team comedian, Costa is a more pensive, hardened leader.
“Edwin was the one who always had a smile on his face,” Pinegar said. “I feel like Phil is a lot more serious, a lot more focused in. He harnesses his energy well on the field. He’s definitely more of a straight-forward leader.”
On a younger team, that style of leadership may be necessary. Friedgen said he has heard much less “Don’t worry coach, we got it,” this year than last from his team, which lost 30 seniors and now has a Friedgen-era low 14 on the roster.
“Being young brings a different element to the table,” Gonnella said. “We don’t have any cocky attitudes. Everybody’s out there working. Plus, we’ve got a chance to upset some people.”
ajoseph@umdbk.com
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