COLLEGE PARK - Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen stood behind the lectern wearing a jacket and tie instead of his usual coaching attire. He looked more like a salesman than the Terps' coach, which actually seemed somewhat appropriate.
The lingering problem, just a week into the season: Not only are Terps fans uncertain about what they're buying, but Friedgen also doesn't even seem to be clear on what exactly he's selling.
Yesterday, Friedgen delivered a passionate and emotional defense of his embattled quarterback, Jordan Steffy. He compared Steffy to a son, praised his attitude, perseverance, courage and toughness. It really was heartfelt, and Friedgen seemed choked up at times.
And then when he was almost finished and you had the sense that Steffy might be owed a bronze statue in front of the Gossett Team House, Friedgen almost immediately issued a vote of no confidence. Friedgen was asked, even if Steffy is healthy and recovered from this curious thumb injury Saturday, would the quarterback start at Middle Tennessee State?
"I'm not sure right now," he said.
After laying out an impassioned case for Steffy, even the coach in salesman's clothes doesn't seem sold.
Before we get to this weekend's game and the renewed three-way battle for the quarterback job, it's worth briefly revisiting Saturday's win over Delaware. If nothing else, it'll help us understand why the most important position on the field also happens to be the biggest question mark entering the second game of the season.
Lost in the wake of a too-close-for-comfort win seems to be the fact that Steffy played one half of a decent ballgame, completing nine of 12 passes for 103 yards. But he came out for the third quarter and was noticeably different, completing one of his six second-half passes and throwing two interceptions before leaving the game early.
What was the difference? Friedgen said Steffy isn't sure when he injured his thumb, though he suspects the injury played a role. (A review of the television broadcast doesn't seem to reveal much evidence to support this idea, however, and Steffy himself has been shielded from reporters.)
I have another theory, and, Terps fans, you probably won't like it. The incessant rain of your jeers and boos got to him. They echoed in his head during halftime, and he came out rattled for the final two quarters.
Though you would certainly hope a 22-year-old senior were prepared for this kind of pressure, I still fault the fans as much as the quarterback. Steffy hasn't changed that much over the past couple of years. He's incredibly poised in practice, exceptionally confident in interviews - and inexplicably lacking in game situations.
Friedgen knows this, and, just as importantly, fans know this, too, which is why booing your own fragile quarterback is senselessly counterproductive.
I asked Friedgen whether he's concerned about Steffy's confidence. The coach didn't specifically answer the question, yet he sufficiently addressed it.
"There are a lot of things that bother me right now with this whole thing," he said. "I've got a kid who has done everything that I could possibly ask him to do. Would I like him to make some better decisions or throw some better passes? Sure. But this kid to me is the epitome of what we want in this football program. With what he is dealing with and the scrutiny of every pass being judged, some of those people booing him would love to have their children be like Jordan Steffy.
"And I personally don't think it is justified. ... I get a little discouraged because he is the type of kid that he is and he wants to please, he wants to do as well as he can. Instead of having a positive effect, it probably makes his job even tougher. And yet he hasn't hung his head. He was trying to [practice Monday] and Coach [James] Franklin told him not to. I want that guy in the foxhole with me. That is the type of kid he is."
And yet, looking ahead to the second week of the season, Friedgen can't commit to wanting a healthy Steffy in the huddle, which tells us more about the head coach than it does the quarterback.
For the past two seasons, Friedgen has been eager for Steffy to take over. The emergence of Chris Turner and the arrival of Josh Portis should have only encouraged Steffy. But it simply has not translated to Saturdays, confirmed again by the second half against Delaware.
"People don't believe me. I have a lot invested in this, also," Friedgen said, "and I would not put a guy out there who I didn't think was the best guy. In practice, he is. ... It is a learning process. The game has to slow down for you. It has not always for Jordan right now."
It's too early in the season for the tea leaves to be this muddled. But if you listen to the football coach and not the salesman, the message seems to be clearing up: Steffy should be lauded for all he represents and all he has brought to the program, but even Friedgen doesn't seem completely sold on him as the Terps' week-in, week-out starting quarterback.
