Maryland will be without another defensive starter against Indiana after linebacker Deshawn Holt underwent knee surgery, head coach Mike Locksley said on Thursday. The injury is not expected to be season-ending, but it’s another blow to an outside linebacker room already without Durell Nchami.
“He had a slight lower leg injury that we had to go in and fix it this weekend so, you know, he's out for this game,” Locksley added. Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu and defensive tackle Mosiah Nasili-Kite were also absent from the open portion of Tuesday’s practice as the veteran duo are battling through nagging injuries. “Sam has been battling some things, Mo Kite been battling that toe and so we usually traditionally kind of give them an extra day of rest, but they both have practiced.”
Maryland will hope to have the starting linemen in action this Saturday as Locksley remains as optimistic as he can when it comes to cornerback Kenny Bennett. The senior cornerback missed the last two games and is once again a game-time decision for Saturday as Locksley once again confirmed he’s been practicing with the team. “As with these hamstrings, they’re day to day and you know, unlike Jakorian, who you know, has been able to get back and is close to it. Right now, Kenny's battling and so he continue to be a game-time decision. And luckily for us, we're playing here at home, so we don't have to travel them and we can warm them up and see what he feels like.” As Maryland battles the injury bug halfway through the season, so does Indiana as freshman quarterback Donaven McCulley is expected to draw his first start after appearing in the last two games. The limited game film led Maryland’s staff to find a comparable Hoosier quarterback to begin building a defensive gameplan, leading Locksley to see a lot of Peyton Ramsey in McCulley’s game.
“We've done our research to look and see when they've had this type of quarterback, what things they've done with it. We think we saw, you know, a pretty good idea of some of the things that he does well with his small sample size of plays but, you know, we've got to prepare for basically what his skillset is but to us, we know that one thing that they will do to attack us because we've shown you know, the propensity to last week or two to not be able to handle the run. We expect them to run the ball so for us, we need to focus on what we need to do and obviously if they play the young quarterback, do a great job of taking away the things that allow him to explore his strengths from him and we've been working all week long to try to put a good plan together for that.”
Maryland will look to reel in their run defense after allowing 326 yards on the ground one week ago, but the Terps are also focusing on better efficiency on the offensive side of the ball. Locksley twice noted that five of Taulia’s ten incompletions against Minnesota were the result of dropped passes, adding “the quarterback rating doesn't take into account drops and then all of a sudden, he's 22-of-27 for close to 300 yards with these catches.” One aspect that the Terps are favored to win the battle is in the trenches as the Hoosiers’ defensive line has struggled to generate pressure this season, tallying just ten sacks in seven games. They’ll go up against a Maryland offensive line that’s tied for sixth in the Big Ten with Wisconsin and Penn State with 13 sacks allowed this season. Locksley continues to describe the Terps’ offensive line as a unit “that has continued to improve” with Aric Harris settled into his first season as the starting center.
“I will say that because of our lack of depth that, you know, if you watch and look at some of these guys when they play in practice, they've got more pads and contraptions and braces on than you ever see. And so this group has one showed me that the mental toughness that goes along with playing up front in the trenches, because this time of the year, none of them are healthy. They've got all elbows and shoulders and knees and things that, you know, the day to day bumps and bruises that go along with playing a very physical position where every play is like being in a car accident. But I've been happy with the effort that they give and we've had a tough go at it. You know, I know with the Iowa as well as the Ohio State week, where, you know, our best players maybe didn't perform as well as they have, but I thought they bounced back decently this past week against Minnesota. We had a couple of missed assignments in there that starts with the communication part. You know, with our center, Aric Harris kind of aligns us all correctly or gets us correctly aligned and we had a couple of issues there but for the most part, I've been pleased with the group. And we're going to need them to play really well this weekend for us to find a way to get up get a win.”
Kickoff is set for 12 PM on Saturday.
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