Out goes Justin Gilbert. In comes Pete DeSouza.
Only time will tell if this isn't as harrowing a trade for the Maryland football team as it might seem.
Gilbert, the sophomore left tackle who impressed with his consistency in his first three starts, was last for the season Saturday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He buckled and the fell to the ground with virtually no contact in the third quarter of a 31-17 loss at West Virginia.
R.J. Dill swung over to left tackle. DeSouza, a redshirt freshman playing in his second game, stepped in at right tackle.
And now Maryland hopes he can improve and mature.
Quickly.
"Justin was really playing well for us," coach Ralph Friedgen said. "I said earlier we were very pleased with him and my major concern was losing an offensive lineman and being forced to play a redshirt freshman again. But DeSouza has played and played well. We got some situations Saturday that will help him. I was very pleased with the way he practiced yesterday. We'll just have to do the best we can do."
Friedgen deserves credit for acknowledging under trying circumstances what he's admitted since the start of camp: Maryland could be in serious trouble if it needed to dig beyond its first six on the offensive line.
DeSouza, based on the early returns of the season, was the No. 7 lineman.
The problem isn't DeSouza's talent; Maryland seems high on him for the long term, and he could be the Terps' right tackle of the future. It's how quickly he can get up to speed in the short term.
"I think he's made a lot of progress," Friedgen said. "I don't know how to say where his game is because he's only played in two games, but obviously I think he has a bright future. He's a big kid, he has decent feet. I think he's a right tackle; I don't think he's a left tackle. Being put in the situation he was on Saturday with the crowd noise and different fronts he saw, he made some mistakes but he also did some good things, too. I think he'll improve the more he plays. It's just we're back to playing a redshirt freshman."
With DeSouza elevated to a starter's role and Nick Klemm now his backup, true freshman Max Garcia becomes the backup left tackle.
There were other ways for Friedgen to approach the situation --- namely moving Paul Pinegar from center to left tackle and installing Bennett Fulper as the new starting center --- but he said he offensive coordinator James Franklin and offensive line coach Tom Brattan concluded this decision would prove fruitful down the road even if there were some issues to contend with now.
"I'm trying to get our best players on the field," Friedgen said. The other issue is right guard because Justin Lewis is having trouble with his knee. I just felt like we could move Pinegar there [to left tackle], and I don't know if that would have made us any better because we would move Fulper to center and now we wouldn't have an adequate backup at right guard. In the long run, I think this was the best move."
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