So THAT's How Maryland Convinced Chris Turner to Stay

You knew there had to be some special Kool-Aid Maryland was serving up to make junior quarterback Chris Turner want to hang around after fifth-year senior Jordan Steffy was named the Terps starter earlier this month. And he got his first taste of the good stuff yesterday, entering the game in the fourth-quarter to preserve a 14-point lead, which he held onto for a 14-7 Terp home victory over the University of Delaware.

It was inevitable that Turner would get the nod at some point during the season. It was always a matter of if Jordan Steffy would be injured or if his play would cost him the job. On yesterday, it seemed that both knocked him out of the fourth-quarter, as Friedgen entered Turner after calling Steffy’s two interceptions and a lost fumble a result of a “thumb injury.”

“Steffy injured his right thumb,” coach Ralph Friedgen said. “I thought he played pretty good in the first half. I don’t know when he hurt his thumb. I don’t think he said anything to me.”

Interestingly enough, Steffy was unavailable to talk about it after the game, and other Terps offensive starters were clueless about the alleged injury.

“If the guy’s hurt, he’s not going to tell anybody. He’s going to try to stay in the game as long as possible,” wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey said. He thought Steffy “made all the right reads and all the right checks” but said he had not heard anything about an injury.

The same for Edwin Williams, and for Da’Rel Scott – the guy snapping Steffy the ball and the one taking his handoffs, respectively. “I thought they just made a change to see what Chris could do,” Scott said innocently.

And it is what it is. Ralph Friedgen had to play the fence on this issue, and it took him all of three quarters in the first game of the season to pick a side. He had to show a loyalty to Steffy, a local kid with a good work ethic, but keep Turner, a loafer in practice with a strange knack for showing off in big games.

So we have insight as to why Turner stayed. But is this the scenario that Friedgen promised to Turner to encourage him to stay? And if so, will it ultimately pay off for the Terps?

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