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Randy Edsall has spoken on more than one occasion about the need for his Maryland football team to get more physical to contend in the Big Ten.
His team finished third in its inaugural season in the conference's East division, but that was more a function of the team's skill players than heavy lifting done up front.
Per Football Outsiders, the 2014 Terrapins were 118th in the country in "power success rating," which measures how well a team was able to convert third- or fourth-and-short, and 84th in "stuff rate," which measures how often a running back was stopped for no gain or a loss.
As far as traditional stats, Maryland was 12th in the Big Ten in both rushing and sacks allowed while ranking 108th and 103rd in those categories, respectively.
With three starters lost from the final depth chart of the season, it stands to reason offensive line is an important area for the Terps this spring.
To that end, Edsall had good things to say about the progress of redshirt freshmen Damian Prince, Derwin Gray, Sean Christie and Brendan Moore as the first week came to a close.
"Derwin has to understand the left tackle has to be on all the time," Edsall said. "You have to be exact. You need to play with good technique and fundamentals to play that position. He's getting better will keep getting better. Damian playing at a faster pace than last year and will continue to."
Much in particular is expected of Prince, a four-star recruit from Bishop McNamara in Washington, D.C., and Gray, a standout at D.C.'s Friendship Collegiate before spending year at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.
"When I first got here, I didn't think redshirting was for me," Gray said (per the team's official website), "but looking back I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I had the opportunity to learn the system and develop."
Similarly, Prince called the year on the sidelines "definitely a blessing," adding, "I had the time to work on my technique and get acclimated to classes and things like that."
