- The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Randy Edsall inherited five scholarship quarterbacks when he was named Maryland’s football coach in January.

Attrition and position changes already have shaved the total to two, though Edsall isn’t overly concerned with the Terrapins’ depth.

“Lot of times with quarterbacks, you hope to you can go through where you never get to your third guy,” Edsall said Tuesday during an offseason session with reporters. “Most of the time, you can. I feel very comfortable with who we have there. People make decisions and they move on.”

Jamarr Robinson, who started the first three games in 2010, did not return for a fifth season. Devin Burns, who redshirted last year, was switched to wide receiver. And Tyler Smith, one of Maryland’s more prominent quarterback recruits in recent memory, transferred to Elon in May with four years of eligibility left.

Smith’s move was understandable in light of both the presence of ACC freshman of the year Danny O’Brien and the limited work he received in Maryland’s spring game. But it also left the Terps with just O’Brien, sophomore C.J. Brown and walk-on Troy Jones as the only quarterbacks on the roster.

O’Brien started the last 10 games last fall as Maryland went 9-4 and won the Military Bowl, throwing 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Brown attempted one pass before suffering a broken collarbone in the season’s second game.

Maryland made it through just one of the past seven seasons (2006) without using two starting quarterbacks. Then again, the Terps were never forced to deploy a third starting quarterback in that stretch.

One possibility Edsall emphatically shot down was switching Burns back to quarterback.

“Not at all,” Edsall said. “No, no. Unless all the sudden we didn’t have any quarterbacks, I don’t foresee that happening.”

There also aren’t any answers arriving in the freshman class. The Terps didn’t sign a quarterback in February, and Smith’s departure came too late for Maryland to have a reasonable chance to add a useful piece.

That means Edsall will take his chances with two scholarship quarterbacks before replenishing the position through recruiting. The Terps received a commitment from Pittsburgh-area prospect Perry Hills last weekend according to multiple published reports.

“I don’t want to just take somebody to take somebody,” Edsall said. “I believe as we evaluated our recruiting that we felt there were some really, really good quarterbacks we were recruiting for 2012 that could have been more beneficial to us than saying ’Hey, we have to get a guy in here now.’ All that means is we’ll take two this class.”

NOTES: Edsall said junior defensive tackle Zach Kerr and freshman wide receiver Nigel King are ineligible for this season. Kerr, who made 21 tackles last season, is academically ineligible. King was not cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse. King, who enrolled a semester early, will serve what amounts to a redshirt season. Kerr’s future is less certain. Edsall said he planned to meet with Kerr to determine his status with the program. …

Edsall said he and athletic director Kevin Anderson have discussed an indoor facility, with the hopes of building one by next season. He also said “you can pretty much be assured that next year - not this year, but next year - that there will be an artificial surface” in Byrd Stadium. …

Cliff Tucker, who played basketball with the Terps for four years and joined the football team in spring practice, was not given a scholarship and won’t rejoin the program.

• Patrick Stevens can be reached at pstevens@washingtontimes.com.

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