Senior quarterbacks are the essence of legends. The defenders of programs. Rulers of the fall calendar. Every parent’s dream, everybody’s friend.
Coaches cherish senior passers like prodigal sons. Indeed, quarterbacks are recruited annually so there’s always a senior in the system.
It mostly worked for Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen when winning 31 games, two bowls and one ACC title in his first three seasons. Shaun Hill led Maryland to the Orange Bowl and a 10-2 mark in 2001 upon Friedgen’s arrival. Redshirt junior Scott McBrien followed with 21 victories over two years.
And then the quarterback pipeline went dry faster than BP in Alaska. Departed coach Ron Vanderlinden left the Terrapins without even a junior passer. Maryland played quarterbacks with practically no experience. Consecutive 5-6 seasons followed. Quarterbacks weren’t the only problem, but they sure made Friedgen eager to reach this year.
“One of the things I’m looking forward to, not only with Sam [Hollenbach] but also with Jordan [Steffy], is we’re going into the season with an experienced quarterback,” Friedgen said. “Sam is a solid kid. I’m assuming he’s going to learn from his mistakes and I’m anticipating he’ll have a good year. I think he has a pretty good chance to be a good player.”
Hollenbach enters with 11 starts under his belt after winning his debut in the 2004 finale. The promising effort made him reconsider transferring as a junior. It was a good thing because 2004 starter Joel Statham continued his slide that ended with him transferring while once highly-regarded recruit Steffy has been undermined by physical setbacks.
Hollenbach has that B.M.O.C. look. The mild-mannered attitude may fool some of his engineering classmates who think Hollenbach spends Saturdays redesigning automobiles instead of getting more mileage from an offense that sputtered last year, but teammates notice the difference.
“Sam has a swagger to him right now,” said offensive tackle Stephon Heyer. “He has confidence in what he does.”
That is so important in an offense with more than 1,200 plays and Friedgen never running the same one twice in practice. Good thing Hollenbach now recognizes plays momentarily flashed by a new classroom projection system.
His core knowledge strengthened, Hollenbach spent the summer throwing to receivers 30 times just to accustom the latter’s newcomers to the patterns. He also met with other team leaders to coordinate roles. The long-awaited experienced passer is finally running a team instead of running from defenders.
Hollenbach plans to enjoy his final golden weeks of fall in College Park. After all, everyone has waited three years for it.
“It feels like my senior year of high school,” he said. “It’s fun being a senior because I’ve been through all this. It’s less pressure because I know what it’s going to be like. I just try not to put any added pressure on myself. I had a good experience from last year and that will help me.”
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
