2016 Maryland Football Preview: Dawn of the Durkin

Talking Terps

Today in the SVP Lounge, CT, Eric and Zack put Red Shell Radio to bed and announce a new era of Maryland podcasting with Talking Terps. In the first episode of the 2016-17 season, the guys go full speed with pads on to preview the 2016 Maryland football season. They discuss the dawn of the D.J. Durkin era, breakdown the preseason story lines, go through the team position-by-position, hash out everyone’s plans for tailgating, comb over the schedule for wins, and put Randy Edsall on a shelf by recounting losses that will haunt their dreams forever. Topics discussed include: Red Shell Radio is now Talking Terps! Eric is engaged Zack is the new face in the fold Who’s hyped for the D.J. Durkin era? What are you excited for going into the season? Quarterbacks! It can’t be worse than last year, right?! The guys are confident Perry Hills will be the starter Zack points out Walt Bell’s offense should be simpler than dealing with the offense constantly changing last year. Eric is still concerned with need to move the ball through the air when the team is down For the first the first time in god knows how long, Maryland might actually have an effective running game. Ty Johnson could be a lot of fun to watch Zack gets to gush about Randy Edsall one last time as he did recruit offensive lineman well, could finally have a Big Ten caliber line in terms of size and strength The receivers need to get the ball, but if they do, this group is solid D.J. Durkin pulls a coup, nabs JUCO transfer J.C. Jackson. He’s a former four-star recruit and Florida Gator. The guys are hyped CT is glad Maryland is rolling the dice on a guy who’s had issues in the past William Likely is a beast, look for Alvin Hill to play behind him and Jackson. There could be depth issues behind that Durkin added a bunch of freshmen to the secondary that we might see at corner and safety CT not feeling confident about Josh Woods and Denzel Conyers, Zack and Eric don’t share his skepticism Jermaine Carter Jr. could be the best player on the team Zack points out that Durkin likes to play a lot of nickel and dime defense, helps to cut down for the need of depth at linebacker The defensive line has the biggest range in terms of floor and ceiling: They might be terrible, but they also might be pretty decent CT knows nothing about the kickers, Zack and Eric drop knowledge on him. The presumptive starting punter Wade Lees got busted for PEDs in Australia, has a huge leg The guys get into some tailgating talk, CT doesn’t have any wedding conflicts. Eric’s own wedding could be slated for fall 2017 Here’s to winning games and not being forever stuck with noon kickoffs The Terps have gone from having one of the hardest schedules in the country to one of the easiest in the conference The first three games of the season against Howard, FIU and UCF are all very winnable. If they want to go bowling, those three are important The first three games of the Big Ten season are also winnable with Purdue, Penn State and Minnesota Maryland’s got a good shot against Purdue at home, Penn State will be tough, Minnesota is about on the Terps level All three guys pick Maryland to go 5-1 in the first half of the season. They are really boring The second half of the season is really damn tough. CT thinks they might not win another game until Rutgers Despite all of our positive talk, this team was bad last year. We’re just looking for improvement. Five wins would be a big The guys decide to put Randy Edsall on a shelf and move on for good by discussing which Randy Edsall loss will haunt their your dreams forever? There are so many horrific examples