Tailback

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland tailback Bruce Perry probably will be unavailable for next weekend's season opener and possibly a portion of the season as well with a "pretty significant" groin injury, Terps football coach Ralph Friedgen said. When asked yesterday if Perry was out for the Aug. 31 Notre Dame game in East Rutherford, N.J., Friedgen said, "I'm going to wait until after the test, but I would say probably so. "If it's what we think it is, it's a question of whether he's ready for the season or for the middle of the season, from what the doctors are telling me."

COLLEGE PARK - It's tough to make out what it means when Mario Merrills practices with the first-unit offense as tailback for the Maryland football team. It could mean Terrapins coach Ralph Friedgen genuinely wonders about the progress of star running back Bruce Perry - who has spent most of the past eight months recovering from an abdominal injury - and wants to move on to the next guy in line, which would be Merrills. It could also mean Friedgen is merely attempting to motivate Perry.

COLLEGE PARK - Maryland's top offensive and defensive players both sat out April's spring practices, which ended with a severe knee injury to the top candidate at quarterback. Sounds like a recipe for anxiety, although tailback Bruce Perry and linebacker E.J. Henderson both appear to be on the mend, and quarterback Chris Kelley has been participating in the team's recent seven-on-seven drills. Perry expects to defend his starting spot after rushing for 1,242 yards and 10 touchdowns last year as a sophomore.

A couple weeks into training camp, Bruce Perry's tenuous hold on Maryland's starting tailback job was slipping away. Ailing hamstrings separated Perry from most of his teammates, relegating him to a pack of injured players who went through a set of grueling calisthenics while the conditioning staff watched. The barrel rolls, performed on artificial turf under a scorching sun, were Perry's breaking point. He pulled off his helmet and, with an anguished face, spewed a river of invective before asking, "What does this have to do with the game?"

COLLEGE PARK - Of the many questions that swirled around Maryland before its season opener against North Carolina yesterday, one of the larger ones involved a replacement for LaMont Jordan at tailback. Now, it may be a question of who will back up Bruce Perry. The sophomore, starting his first game since joining the program in 1999, solidified his grip on the No. 1 role by rushing 21 times for a career-high 116 yards in the Terrapins' 23-7 victory over North Carolina at Byrd Stadium. For Perry, yesterday's stirring performance was an ample reward for being red-shirted last season.

The Towson football team graduated three three-year starters on the offensive line. All of the secondary and the defensive line, a unit that accounted for 44 of a school-record 48 sacks, have also moved on. That is why it is no surprise that for much of Towson's annual Black and Gold spring game yesterday, longtime Tigers coach Gordy Combs had his eyes on the men up front. "I have been happy with how productive they have been over the last four weeks," said Combs, whose team posted its second straight 7-4 season this past fall.

HAMPTON, Va. - Tailback Montrell Coley carried 50 times for 253 yards and scored two touchdowns to become the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's all-time leading scorer, as he paced Hampton to a 31-14 win over Morgan State yesterday. The number of rushes on this wind-whipped, 45-degree afternoon and the yardage total were single-game school records. "Coley was a major factor," Morgan State coach Stanley Mitchell said. "He's Hampton's go-to guy, and he made a big difference in the second half."

Wilde Lake's "quick pitch" running play is about as basic as football gets. The Wildcats quarterback takes the snap from center, turns, and flips the ball out to the halfback, who tries to get outside and turn the corner. It's simple football, and every team in Howard County likely runs the play or something very similar. But every team in the county does not have Mario Merrills -- Wilde Lake's senior tailback that transforms "quick pitch" from elementary addition to advanced calculus for Wildcat opponents.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - With the exception of tailback Ali Culpepper, Morgan State had little to shout about yesterday. In a 33-6 loss to North Carolina A&T, Culpepper performed admirably against one of the top-rated defensive teams in Division I-AA, rushing for 161 yards on 23 carries, which included a 76-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. "The play was designed for me to cut back against their pursuit," said Culpepper, a Baltimore junior. "Everybody executed and that enabled me to find some open space to run."

Somewhat weakened by graduation and a key transfer, Westminster still rules the roost in the county. Senior quarterback Ryan Baer has demonstrated a nice arm, and senior tight end Rafe Bridges, senior split end Dan Brewer and senior tailback Jamel Smalls will be appealing targets. But Westminster lost more than two-thirds of its starting defense and last year's starting quarterback, one of two wide receivers, and four of five offensive lineman. The biggest hit may stem from the loss of senior tailback Brad Durden, who rushed for more than 1,400 yards last season.