Minus Harrison and Funk, Maryland football should be at full strength at Michigan

Maryland interim coach and offensive coordinator Matt Canada said Tuesday that he is “hopeful” of the Terps being nearly at full strength for Saturday’s game at No. 15 Michigan, with the exception of junior running backs Lorenzo Harrison III and Jake Funk.

It was announced Thursday that Harrison, who had missed the Sept. 15 loss to Temple with a hamstring injury and then didn’t play in the Big Ten-opening win over Minnesota on Sept. 22, injured his right knee in practice. Funk has been out the past three games with a broken hand, also suffered in practice.

Aside from Harrison and Funk, the injuries seemed to be piling up for the Maryland football team.

Three starting offensive linemen also missed the disheartening 35-14 loss to previously winless Temple in the home opener. Two of them, redshirt senior tackle Derwin Gray and junior guard Terrance Davis, returned for Minnesota.

Another starting offensive lineman, sophomore Johnny Jordan, sat out the 42-13 win over the Gophers with an injury. Starting safeties Darnell Savage Jr. and Antwaine Richardson left the Minnesota game with injuries.

Canada said at his news conference Tuesday that Harrison suffered a noncontact injury.

“Just for LoLo [Harrison], it’s hard,” Canada said. “He’s a great young man. He had come back, he was probably feeling as good as he felt that day in practice. He had gotten back, but we didn’t have to play him against Minnesota.

"He was feeling great. He had made a great run. It was a noncontact situation where that’s part of the deal with athletics. It’s just an interesting, hard situation. Everything [with surgery] went as well as it could go.”

The loss of Harrison and the continued absence of Funk shortened Canada’s rotation at running back against Minnesota, but it didn’t seem to matter. Both senior Ty Johnson and redshirt freshman Anthony McFarland rushed for over 100 yards, combining for 225 yards and three touchdowns.

Though he was not specific about the other injuries, Canada said every player who either missed or was hurt against the Gophers should be ready to go against the Wolverines at “The Big House” — barring any further setbacks.

That means Savage, Richardson and Jordan. It also means redshirt senior offensive tackle Damian Prince, who missed the past two games because of an undisclosed injury, should also suit up.

“With the exception of Jake, we’re hopeful that everybody else will be back on Saturday,” Canada said. “The bye week gives you a chance to get some of those guys back. We won’t know for sure. Obviously we’ll practice them this afternoon. We’ll see where we are today, tomorrow, Thursday. We’ll see where we’ll go Saturday.”