Terps' Young Tailbacks Will Carry the Load

Game after game last season, Da'Rel Scott and teammate Morgan Green would stand on Maryland's sideline, watch the Terrapins' two premier running backs amass impressive rushing totals and offer each other a hopeful message: "Next year is going to be our year. We are going to be better than them."

With Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore departed, Scott and Green will have the opportunity to fill the void left by two of the top running backs in school history. What the tandem of sophomores lacks in experience -- Scott and Green have 17 career carries between them -- they make up for in confidence.

"We want to make people act like they weren't even here," Green said. "We want to overshadow them. That's the goal. If me and Da'Rel can stay healthy, I don't think there is anything that can stop us."

While the duo respects the accomplishments of Ball and Lattimore -- players who finished fourth and 14th, respectively, on the school's career rushing list -- Scott said: "There are always shoes to fill. But we will do a lot on the field this year because I feel we bring better things to the field than they did."

Scott has impressed Coach Ralph Friedgen enough in camp to demonstrate that he could be the featured back. Blessed with superb speed, Scott is a former high school track star who won the Pennsylvania state title in the 100 meters with a time of 10.56. He averaged 18.5 yards every time he touched the ball last season -- despite nagging bumps and bruises -- and had 89 rushing yards on just eight carries against North Carolina State.

"He has emerged," Friedgen said of Scott's performance in camp. "He can run."

Green also has speed, but he is more of a power back. The Lackey High graduate recorded the third-highest strength total on the team in the spring. Green has been hampered by injuries, missing six games last season because of a hamstring injury and then undergoing surgery in the spring to repair a broken clavicle suffered in the spring game.

John Donovan, Maryland's running backs coach, said Scott has progressed faster than Green this summer because Green has battled a quad injury. Green said his injury is "a setback, but nothing serious," but has told Friedgen and the staff that he is only 60 percent, and therefore has not practiced since last weekend's scrimmage.

Friedgen said Green has dropped on the depth chart, adding, "Time is passing him by."

Friedgen said Green's injury means that freshman Davin Meggett, the son of former NFL standout Dave Meggett, will almost certainly figure into the running attack this season. The 5-foot-8 Meggett has impressed coaches with his quick grasp of the offense, even though Meggett has been disappointed with his own play.

"Actually, I'm doing horribly," Meggett said. "Coaches say I'm doing well? I'm doing horrible. I have the most missed assignments. Picking up blocks I'm doing horrible at. Coach Friedgen says I can run harder. I'm not doing as good as it seems."

Meggett did not participate in spring practice, but he attended some practices and said he sat in on some meetings. He said he took a portion of the playbook home and crammed over the summer.

"We have put 85 percent of the offense in, and he is hanging in there," Friedgen said. "That's pretty remarkable for him. He has to learn to read cuts better -- all that will come. I'm really surprised he was able to function."

Meggett's performance has been highlighted by a 50-yard touchdown run and a six-yard touchdown run in last weekend's scrimmage. But Meggett said he still is trying to react at the line of scrimmage rather than take time thinking through reads and assignments.

But he refuses to use youth as an excuse. With Maryland's returning players accounting for just 15 percent of its rushing yards from last season, the Terrapins will need Meggett -- and a healthy Green -- to complement Scott, who could get the bulk of the carries.

"Da'Rel can bring a home-run hit; he's real explosive," Meggett said. "Morgan can bring a consistent, every-down, workhorse back. I can bring fresh legs when the others are tired."