Terrapin Rising Episode #4
By Bob W.
Well the march to the opening of fall practice continues. We are already past Episode 4 which means football season is approaching with meteor like speed. If I were a student or teacher I would start to get depressed at this news, but since I’m not, I’ll view this as all good. Scratch that, let’s call it great. I mean the O’s are no where near .500 and without meaningful baseball, all summer really means is grass mowing, weeding, hot weather, and snakes (for God’s sake, can I mow my grass just once without coming across one of these guys??).
And though the football season will be fast upon us, to kill the remaining time left, we have Terrapin Rising.
I’ll say it again, this idea is ingenious and I’m sorry for AGAIN pointing this out. But would you not watch a show like this for any of the teams you follow? I think this program is a turning point in the history of the program. That’s probably not true, but last night as I was watching it, I was trying to think of what a non-Maryland fan thinks of this, and for the first time in my life, as I was watching the Terrapins workout, I felt like we were slowly turning into a football school! Of course the proof of that needs to be proven on the field, and not in the editing room, so well see in regards to that. But enough of my rambling, let’s get on with the recap.
Episode #4 opened up with focus on the line backers. The LB spot has traditionally been a strong point under Ralph Friedgen and that tradition will hopefully continue. Erin Henderson really looks to emerge as a leader. We also got to learn a little about Linebacker Coach Al Seamonson who is every bit as intense as the rest of the staff.
This weeks episode again focused on the QB situation as well, especially Josh Portis. I felt a lot better after this episode due to the progress they’ve shown Josh making. There is no questioning the kid’s athletic ability, but if Terrapin Rising has taught us anything it’s that you need more than physical talent to excel in Ralph Freidgen’s offense, and Portis is starting to make some progress.
But the main focus of this
week’s episode was the discipline aspect of the Maryland Football team. In
order to make sure everyone is working together everyone has been divided into
teams of 10. These 10 guys are all linked together. If one does something
wrong, such as misses a meal, study hall, or class, that player and his team
receive points based on the violation. Once those points reach a certain level,
punishment is handed out.
This week’s slacker was Anthony Wiseman, who earned enough points that he was awarded with an individual punishment. That punishment was running the steps of Byrd Stadium every morning for 5 straight days. The team discipline idea was really popular among the players and seemed to be working (though it didn’t work well enough to keep Gaither on the team).
Which got me thinking…..maybe we should instill this practice into D-7 tailgate. Break everyone into teams of 3 and when one person, let’s say misses a tailgate, plays exceptionally bad flip cup, or draws the attention of the campus police, the whole team is punished with…I don’t know…doing a shotgun. Wow this idea has some potential; of course it would never work because I’d hate to see what D-7 scrubs I got stuck with!
But anyway, that’s it for Episode 4. Next week seems to be focused on the place kicking. Based on the montage of terrible field goal attempts that ended the preview, things could get ugly on special teams this year. But hopefully that was just all in the editing.
One last note. Terrapin Rising is getting a lot of buzz and air time. Here are some of the channels that are picking it up:
Fox College Sports Network
Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Comcast Sports Southeast
Fox College Sports will start airing “TR” on Thursday’s starting July 19th. Fox College Sports Atlantic will also be airing a “TR” marathon at 5:30 PM Thursday August 30th. Comcast SportsNet Philly will be running the show on Wednesday’s at 11:30 am (nice time slot!). And Comcast Sport Southeast will be showing it on Friday’s at 6:30 (that’s better).