How is "premeditated cheating" justified any more than regular cheating?? He cheated on a graded quiz, it really doesn't matter if it was a pop quiz or not. I understand that a Mother wants to defend her son, but the fact that he was tired and just coming in from practice has absolutely NOTHING to do with the situation. Seems like a little more than a simple mistake to me. If he's going to cheat on coursework, he should at least be smart enough to not make it obvious enough to get caught.

Many year s ago, I was a graduate student at Maryland and I was a teaching assistant. I had many sad experiences with athletes who would break rules and suffer no consequences. These were not major rules, generally, but they were rules that were ignored without any punishment. The kids learned nothing, other than the fact that if you are an athlete, you can get away with almost anything. Good for Maryland. Good for Coach Friedgen. And, good for Josh Portis. Kids do the wrong things sometimes and that does not make them bad people or bad kids. But, for having suffered a consequence for his mistake, Josh Portis will be a better person. And, in the end, this will be better for the Maryland program.

So does he get to practice and not play, or does he cease all association with the team until the spring?

BRANDON - Yes, he will be at practice on Monday, but he can't play.

Im currently a student at Maryland, and this doesnt seem to be an all out violation of the honor code. I've seen people getting caught cheating on minor quizes before, and the most that happens is a failed grade on the assignment and a stern talking to by the professor. Nothing that serious, no failed class grade or any notations on the transcript.

Since this is solely a university decision, and a relatively minor violation, is there ANY chance that Portis would be allowed to play later in the season?

Considering Maryland Basketball's latest recruiting, it is fairly obvious that Coach Friedgen is running a far more respectable program.

IMHO, the Terps are in much better shape at QB than they were last year. Steffy is three times more athletic than Sam and now seems to have mastered Ralph's complex offense and matured enough not to take foolish risks. Now he'll have a whole year without the Portis partisans second-guessing his every move, and Portis will have a chance to get a grip on the system.

Heather - thanks for the answer

Here's a concern, now that Josh Portis is done for the season. The Terps have little margin of error with Jordan Steffy; it's vital to their success that he stay healthy, but I've noticed something in photos that really bother me.

First, the headlong dive into the end zone probably isn't the wisest move when QB is so thin on the depth chart. I'm sure this is instinctive to a degree, but Ralph's got to tell him pull back a little. If it's fourth quarter, do-or-die in a bowl game, that's one thing, but not a non-conference game at the beginning of the season.

Also, Jordan has a bad habit of spreading his fingers significantly when he's throwing the ball and he does this with both hands. Here are some examples: On the UM site link below, click on Photo Gallery 1 and go to the third pic, which shows what I mean pretty well.

http://umterps.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/090107aaa.html#

The next two are from the Washington Post.

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2007/08/24/PH2007082402107.jpg

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/08/12/PH2006081201010.jpg

While broken fingers are always a danger for quarterbacks, I think he's increasing the risk.

I Blame Coach Friedgen and the coaching staff on this matter.they need to know how well the athlete's are doing in class.especially 1st and 2nd string players

Now it would be interesting to get in touch with Bobby and Jeremy and see how they feel about missing out on their chance.

Heaven forbid we get down to Jamarr and have to have a walk-on for a backup!

Heather,

I understand the privacy issues so I don't really care what he did. The real question to me is when did Ralph know that Portis wouldn't be allowed to play this season? In other words, was the whole QB competition this Summer a farce? It's a lot easier to say Steffy "gives us the best chance to win" if Portis can't play.

I'm also curious about possible transfer scenarios for Portis. Considering this is a University decision to not allow him to play, if he transferred to another school, (and sat out a year), would he still have three years of eligibility remaining?

I'm guessing this had to be more severe than Ralph thought it would, the actions from the school? In your article in the Sun, you said that Ralph had known about the situation since Spring, but was waiting for official ruling from the school.

So...how do they let Ricker just walk away if they know this is on the horizon? I would think they'd make a stronger push to keep him.

Hi Heather,
Just curious - if I were a member of the Maryland football team, what would I need to do to become an "Iron Terp".

Jim,
Tokyo