Late in the second quarter of Maryland’s season opener Saturday afternoon, quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. scrambled out of trouble and around the right side when he elected to slide. It hadn’t been instinctual for the redshirt junior to do that throughout his career, preferring instead to try to gain an extra yard or two.
He thus gave himself up perhaps a fraction of a second too late, he later admitted, allowing Connecticut cornerback Jordan Wright to make violent contact above the shoulders that dislodged Edwards’s helmet. Officials ejected Wright for targeting, and the Terrapins were fortunate Edwards avoided injury.