Terps without two leaders
Standout Likely injured; Hills sits with hurt shoulder
COLLEGE PARK — Coming into Saturday’s home game against Minnesota with injured fifth-year senior quarterback Perry Hills wearing a red baseball cap instead of a black helmet on the sideline, the Maryland football team had lost its offensive leader before the opening kickoff.
It didn’t take long for the Terps to lose their defensive and special teams leader — not to mention their best all-around player — in senior Will Likely. The All-Big Ten cornerback and All-America return specialist left the game with an injury after muffing a punt early in the second quarter.
“Will’s our leader. He’s a really good player, let alone the leader of our team,” first-year Maryland coach DJ Durkin said. “It definitely had an impact. How much — I don’t know how you measure that. Football’s a tough game; we talk about it all the time.
“It’s a rough, tough sport. Tough guys play and we need more tough guys. Bounce up and keep playing. That’s not a statement to Will at all because Will is a tough guy; he is one of those. You lose one of your tough guys. Does it have an effect on you? I guess. There’s not a tougher competitor than him, but we’ll get it figured out.”
Durkin said Hills had practiced a little after reinjuring his right shoulder and coming out late in the first half of last week’s 38-14 defeat at Penn State. Though Hills put on his helmet briefly late in the first half Saturday, it didn’t seem as if Durkin was close to putting him in.
“I didn’t feel it was in his best interest or the [team’s] to put him out there right now today. That’s why we made that decision,” Durkin said. “I just think it would have been one of those things that would have been a ticking time bomb where it’s going to get hit again.” Rhoda wins first start: Redshirt junior Conor Rhoda had thrown a total of two passes in his first two seasons at Minnesota backing up Mitch Leidner. With the redshirt senior out with a concussion, Rhoda did a good job of managing the game in his first college win.
“It was a great experience — the whole week in general was awesome,” said Rhoda, who finished seven of 15 for 82 passing yards and a touchdown. “The team and staff did a great job of not acting like anything was different, which gave me a ton of confidence.” End zone: Senior wide receiver Levern Jacobs led the Terps with a career-high 82 yards on 10 receptions, with the longest catch going for 20 yards. … Senior defensive tackle Azubuike Ukandu (Towson High) led Maryland with a career-high nine tackles.