Maryland starting strong safety Matt Robinson is out for at least three weeks with an ailing left shoulder, Coach Randy Edsall said Thursday, meaning the sophomore will miss the season opener on Sept. 1 against William & Mary.

Robinson (Atholton High School) injured the labrum in his shoudler during practice on Tuesday morning just hours before starting quarterback C.J. Brown was lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee in the afternoon workout.

Robinson “will be in a sling for a week, and then he’ll rehab for two weeks,” Edsall said following Thursday morning’s practice in College Park. “We’ll see where he’s at at that point in time, but it’s going to be a minimum of three weeks before he’ll get out and starting doing anything from a football-related standpoint.”

Edsall said the injury doesn’t appear to require surgery, although the second-year coach wouldn’t rule it out completely.

Robinson had surgery on his right shoulder last year that forced him to miss all but three games. Before the injury, Robinson was second in the ACC and tied for seventh nationally in tackles per game (12).

“It’s one of those things where we’ll rehab him and see how he comes along,” Edsall said.

With Robinson out, freshman Sean Davis (Maret) has been working with the staters at strong safety. Other players on the depth chart behind Robinson are walk-on Clarence Claiborne and Zach Dancel, who cannot play in games this season as a transfer from New Mexico.

“Definitely from Perry you see the poise,” Maryland wide receiver Kevin Dorsey, above, said of freshman quarterback Perry Hills. “He’s just calm and relaxed. He can joke around a little bit, when it’s game time he’s pretty serious.” (Toni L. Sandys - WASHINGTON POST) Perry Hills completed his second practice as the Maryland football team’s first-string quarterback on Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after Coach Randy Edsall revealed starter C.J. Brown would be lost for the season with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Following the two-hour session, teammates praised the freshman’s moxie and dedication as he has been unexpectedly pressed into service a little more than two weeks before the season opener.

“Before when C.J. went down, the night we found out, I’d say probably no,” senior tight end Matt Furstenburg said when asked if he thought Hills would be ready for William & Mary on Sept. 1. “But after seeing him practice, those quarterbacks have stepped up a lot, and I think it’s going to get done.”

“We’re disappointed and upset that this injury has occurred to C.J., but none of the expetations or the enthusiasm for this season have been taken away from us,” Maryland Coach Randy Edsall said Wednesday. (Jonathan Newton - WASHINGTON POST) Maryland football coach Randy Edsall had just finished speaking with quarterback C.J. Brown on Wednesday afternoon when he addressed reporters via conference call regarding his starter’s season-ending knee injury.

Despite the sobering news roughly two weeks before the Terrapins’ season opener on Sept. 1 against William & Mary, Edsall said that he and his team remained optimistic despite the loss of their starting quarterback.

“It’s disappointing for C.J., but the excitement we have and the kind of practices that we’ve been having the last few days, the things that are taking place, that hasn’t dampered anything,” Edsall said. “Like I said, we’re disappointed and upset that this injury has occurred to C.J., but none of the expetations or the enthusiasm for this season have been taken away from us.”

After saying Tuesday that Perry Hills had the edge over fellow freshman Caleb Rowe on the Maryland football depth chart, Terrapins Coach Randy Edsall said Wednesday in a teleconference with reporters that Hills has ascended to first-string quarterback now that starter C.J. Brown will miss the season after suffering an ACL tear in his right knee during a non-contact drill on Tuesday night.

Hills was regarded as a three-star prospect out of Central Catholic High in Pittsburgh by most recruiting services. According to ESPN.com, he chose Maryland over Miami (Ohio), Akron, Buffalo and Kent State.

Central Catholic has produced a number of NFL players, including Dan Marino and Marc Bulger. Hills threw for 1,571 yards and had 14 touchdown passes as a senior.

Hills was also a champion wrestler in high school, going 35-0 and winning his second straight PIAA Class AAA 195-pound championship in 2011-12.

Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown, shown this spring, will miss the season with a torn ACL. (Patrick Semansky - AP) Maryland starting quarterback C.J. Brown is out for the season after tearing an ACL, Coach Randy Edsall said in a statement released through the athletic department, leaving the Terrapins without a player at the position who has taken a college snap.

The injury occurred on Tuesday night during non-contact drills in the second of the day’s two practices. Maryland also practiced on Tuesday morning at Byrd Stadium in preparation for its season opener on Sept. 1 against William & Mary.

“I feel terrible for C.J.,” Edsall said in the statement. “He’s worked incredibly hard to be the starting quarterback of this team. He’s stepped up and been a tremendous leader. We’ll do everything we can to make sure he gets the best treatment to help his recovery.”

Brown started five games last season and appeared in 10 as Edsall changed starting quarterbacks three times during his first season in College Park. Danny O’Brien started the first five games before Brown started the next three. Edsall went back to O’Brien for back-to-back weeks before going to Brown for the last two games of the season after O’Brien suffered a broken bone in his arm against Notre Dame.

O’Brien, the 2010 ACC rookie of the year, transferred to Wisconsin with two seasons of eligibility left after Maryland completed the season 2-10. Brown, meantime, finished with 842 passing yards and seven touchdowns with six interceptions. He also had 574 rushing yards, the most in one season for a Terrapins quarterback, and five rushing touchdowns.