Scrimmage

Two-a-days have ended and yesterday was the final scrimmage for Maryland players to audition for any remaining starting spots. It seemed like a good time to ask coach Ralph Friedgen if he has a sense of where his team is. "I don't," he said. "I really don't. I'm a little concerned where we are. There's moments in every practice when I think we're pretty good. Then there's other moments when I don't think we're very good. ... I'm really encouraging our leadership to come forward and kind of push us through this.

It must be football season, since Bennie Thompson is sporting a cast.The Ravens' reserve safety, who at 36 is the oldest player on the team, made light of the fractured pinkie he suffered on his left hand in Thursday's preseason-opening 10-7 victory over Philadelphia.Thompson, fresh off a Pro Bowl season as a special teams player, got hurt while playing safety with the third-team defense in the second half. He does not remember the play in question.This keeps an interesting streak alive. Since coming to Baltimore with the Cleveland Browns in 1996, Thompson has yet to make it through a season without requiring a cast of some kind on one of his hands.

It took a 10-year veteran only a few minutes yesterday to teach the No. 1 draft pick a major lesson about life in the NFL.Chris McAlister, a cornerback out of the University of Arizona and the Ravens' top rookie, had pretty much had his way with receiver Floyd Turner in two previous minicamps, when Turner was admittedly overweight. But when Turner blew by McAlister for a touchdown on a post pattern on the first day of training camp yesterday, McAlister learned that the stakes were higher now."

WASHINGTON -- As he turned down 6th Street in his approach to the MCI Centerbefore yesterday's scrimmage, Washington Wizards center Lorenzo Williams didn't know what to expect.He had seen the polls during the lockout, indicating a high number of fans not caring about the NBA. He had read the newspaper columns and heard the local sports talk shows, with much of the commentary toward the players negative."Yes, I was kind of concerned," Williams said. "I didn't know what reception we'd get from the fans."

Errict Rhett spent three hours walking the line between cheerleader and malcontent on Sunday night.He watched second-year running back Priest Holmes seize control of the starting tailback job with 173 rushing yards in his first NFL start, while leading the Ravens to a 31-24 victory over Cincinnati. Afterward, Rhett wondered what the future of the 1998 season held for him.Three weeks earlier, Rhett had wrestled the opening-day start from second-year man Jay Graham, then produced 92 yards from scrimmage -- 72 on the ground -- against Pittsburgh.

COLLEGE PARK -- Promise revisited the Maryland football team during the third period of the Black's 16-13 overtime victory over White in an intrasquad scrimmage scrimmage yesterday at Byrd Stadium.LaMont Jordan, one of the few bright spots in Maryland's 1997 season and one player the team can count on in 1998, finally started performing like it. His running paved the way for the Black to win the scrimmage on a 42-yard field goal by Brian Kopka.He wasn't spectacular, but Jordan, a sophomore from Suitland who was the Atlantic Coast Conference's top freshman, made a series of punishing runs and gained 35 yards on seven carries to push the Black squad to its first scoring drive.

For a young man who, during scrimmages the past two weekends, has had little trouble finding the end zone after catching passes, Harry Spencer begins his career at Navy with modest objectives.Though Spencer is just a freshman and there are at least four players ahead of him at the two wide-out positions, one glance at him frolicking in the secondary elicits memories of Rob Taylor, Phil McConkey and other storied Midshipmen receivers of the past."I'd like to make the travel squad," said Spencer, a Miami native.

COLLEGE PARK -- As it was, the half hook attempted by Maryland 6-foot-10 center Obinna Ekezie in the closing seconds of yesterday's Red-White scrimmage was insignificant -- his team trailed by three at the time. What was significant was the message sent by 6-8 freshman forward Terence Morris, who was defending the play.Morris partially blocked the shot, one of his eight blocks in the game. He also scored 24 points, demonstrating three-point range and aggressiveness in the paint, in helping the Red team to a 71-68 win."

Wide receiver Michael Jackson aims to improve on the best season of his career in 1997, and he first would like to put his unimpressive scrimmage against the Philadelphia Eagles behind him.Jackson, who stood out by dropping a number of passes early in camp, had regained momentum during the past two weeks. Then he walked onto the field at Lehigh University on Saturday and dropped two passes in seven-on-seven drills, then followed that by dropping another in the scrimmage, which the Eagles won, 23-7.

Don't bother to remind Loyola coach Dave Cottle that Notre Dame no longer needs a token bid to reach the NCAA tournament.He's well aware of it. The Irish now get there on their own merits. It wasn't long ago that the tournament, in an effort to spread the game, issued an automatic bid to the best team in the Midwest -- even though it wasn't one of the 12 best teams in the country.Cottle and Loyola will face the best team in Notre Dame history in an NCAA tournament opening-round game Sunday at Towson State.

COLLEGE PARK - - Gary Douglas still has three running backs ahead of him on the Maryland depth chart. He knows there are only so many rushing plays to go around. But Douglas, a redshirt sophomore, got 17 carries during Sunday afternoon's scrimmage, taking advantage of the touches by running for a game-leading 122 yards and impressing the head coach. "He has probably more elusive moves than any running back we have," coach Ralph Friedgen said after the scrimmage at Byrd Stadium. "Where his problem has been is pass protection."

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen is devising a strategy to try to help his players adjust to the three-hour time difference they will encounter in their opening game at California on the evening of Sept. 5. The game starts at 7 p.m. - or 10 p.m. in the East. Friedgen wants the team to travel to California on the Thursday night before the game. He wants his players tired when they arrive so they sleep through their first night in the different time zone. "I'd like to get there about [midnight]

COLLEGE PARK - - Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen said he wanted to get a good look at his young players in Saturday's first intrasquad scrimmage. And he did that, but he also got an eyeful of his team's defense. "They're way ahead on defense, obviously," Friedgen said after the scrimmage, which ran just over two hours on the team's practice field. "But we held out certain guys because we wanted to get a good look at everybody. ... Now we have to look at the film and make some good decisions about personnel next week."

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen still hasn't named his starting quarterback, but yesterday's scrimmage brought him closer to that decision. Friedgen said he will look at the film of the scrimmage and make a decision by tonight or tomorrow. "Even if it's the wrong one, I have to name someone by Monday," Friedgen said. "I really think we have three quarterbacks who can play, and it wouldn't surprise me if all three play this season. But what we have to do is find one who we can win with."

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen has shown in recent months that he isn't as intractable as some believe. Friedgen brought in a new offensive coordinator, James Franklin, named him assistant head coach and let him overhaul the offense. Now, entering his eighth season at Maryland, Friedgen seems willing to alter his philosophy when it comes to his quarterbacks. With incumbent Chris Turner unable to separate himself from either Jordan Steffy or Josh Portis, Friedgen said earlier this week that he might consider using a two- - or even three- - quarterback system this season.

Two-a-days have ended and yesterday was the final scrimmage for Maryland players to audition for any remaining starting spots. It seemed like a good time to ask coach Ralph Friedgen if he has a sense of where his team is. "I don't," he said. "I really don't. I'm a little concerned where we are. There's moments in every practice when I think we're pretty good. Then there's other moments when I don't think we're very good. ... I'm really encouraging our leadership to come forward and kind of push us through this.

The New York Giants came into M&T Bank Stadium last night and outhit and outhustled the Ravens. The Ravens can use any excuses they want, but the Giants refused to be intimidated, and pounded one of the NFL's most physical teams. Forget the final score. When this game mattered most in the first half, when the starting units were playing for both teams, New York was the better team. The Ravens used a lot of combination of blitzes and the Giants were prepared. When New York came with defensive pressure of its own, the Ravens couldn't handle it. It was much different than a week ago, when the Ravens played at a much higher level than the Philadelphia Eagles en route to a 29-3 victory.

Scrimmages are about as worthless as the final preseason game. Even before the 11-on-11 portion of the scrimmage yesterday, starters such as linebackers Ray Lewis and Bart Scott and safety Ed Reed were standing on the sideline. Their only competition was to see which one could get out of his shoulder pads the fastest. In the case of the Ravens, they are a veteran team with few holes to fill. Ravens coach Brian Billick spent most of the day looking at the younger players, and it's clear the team has picked up where it left off a year ago in terms of being a serious contender.

Ravens first-round pick Ben Grubbs is questionable for Saturday's scrimmage against the Washington Redskins at M&T Bank Stadium because of a sprained knee. Grubbs, only the second offensive lineman in franchise history to be selected in the first round, did not practice yesterday at McDaniel College in Westminster after spraining the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during special teams practice Tuesday afternoon. "It's just day-to-day," said Grubbs, who watched practice in his jersey and black shorts and wore a knee brace.

COLLEGE PARK -- After Maryland's three-hour scrimmage at Byrd Stadium finally came to a close yesterday morning, center Edwin Williams was still running sprints under the supervision of offensive line coach Tom Brattan - punishment for a scuffle he got into with defensive lineman Dre Moore. It was one of a few minor fights that broke out between teammates, but something coach Ralph Friedgen viewed as a learning experience considering the expected crackdown on fighting this season by the Atlantic Coast Conference.