Redemption in return for duo

It was a dream scenario for the pair of wide receivers who had been best friends and roommates since their arrival in College Park.

Only a quarter had passed in the first game of their senior seasons with the Terrapins football team, and Ronnie Tyler and Quintin McCree had already begun their emergence from the shadows they had stood in under bigger-name wideouts in years past. Tyler capped off an impressive first drive with a touchdown. McCree caught four passes himself. And by the time a season-opening win against Miami had finished, they'd combined for 13 total.

"We didn't think we were going to lose a game, truth be told," Tyler said of the team's mindset after the prime-time victory.

The duo's personal path immediately following that Labor Day win, though, mirrored that of their team. On Sept. 16, two days before the Terps were set to host rival West Virginia, Tyler and McCree were suspended indefinitely for their involvement in an off-campus altercation the night before that led to Tyler's arrest and subsequent charge of second-degree assault.

In a season that seems to worsen each time the Terps step on the field, the wide receiver tandem has found redemption. When the two play at Byrd Stadium for the final time Saturday, they're hoping to lead a win over rival Virginia so that, unlike 2009's 2-10 campaign, this season isn't remembered for all the wrong reasons.

"I got four games left," McCree said. "For sure, I'm not going to finish like that. I don't care if it's 3-9; I'm going to finish with more wins than we did that season. I don't want to be like that because that's the worst team in Maryland history. I just don't want to finish like that."

The pair clicked immediately upon meeting at Virginia's Hargrave Military Academy, where they spent a postgraduate year together in 2006.

It was an unlikely friendship — McCree, the so-called "city boy" from Prince George's County, and Tyler, the converted running back who grew up in Wagener, S.C., a town so small it had just 21 players on its high-school football team.

"Our relationship is different," Tyler said with a laugh. "It's different and it's strange, but he's funny and I think I'm pretty well-rounded and down to earth. Quintin's like Chris Tucker and a mixture of Dave Chappelle."

Perhaps it's fitting, then, that the pair that's been inseparable over the past five years was once again together on that fateful night in September. They were in front of 7-Eleven on Knox Road after their 11 p.m. curfew when Tyler became involved in an altercation with a non-student that ended with him striking the 33-year-old man and fleeing from police before being arrested on the campus.

When Edsall announced the following day that the pair would be suspended indefinitely, Tyler admitted they worried their careers in College Park may be over.

"When it first happened, I thought I was done," Tyler said. "I'm grateful he gave me another opportunity to play. Of course, I [have my regrets]. The main regret is [Edsall] had a curfew set for us every night … and I was out after 11. To a certain extent, I knew I let my teammates down. I feel like I disrespected the reputation of a Maryland player and I apologize for that, but mistakes are mistakes."

Said McCree: "You just have to make the right decisions, that's it. That's what I learned from it. That was probably the turning point of the decisions in my life. You've got to really control your actions and what you do and since then, everything's been straight for me."

Rather than sulk, the pair got to work. They took to their new role on the scout team in the first practice after their suspension with no idea of when or whether they'd be able to step foot on the field again. All Edsall had told them was that, with hard work, they could earn a second chance.

After watching their team get blown out by Temple on Sept. 24, McCree and Tyler were reinstated.

"The two of them, I will give them this: They made a tremendous comeback," defensive tackle Maurice Hampton said. "They didn't complain, they didn't moan, they didn't just mope around. They picked their heads up, they were put on the scout team and they just ran. They ran, they caught, they flew across the air.

"They worked hard, and I saw them. Didn't say a thing to them the whole time. Nobody said anything to them the whole time, but they worked their tails off to get back on the team, so I think they deserve it."

Their return hasn't had the effect many expected. The Terps' offense was out of sync in their absence, and it hasn't found its opening-game rhythm since their reinstatement Sept. 25.