Listed as a starter on Maryland’s pre-spring depth chart, Darin Drakeford will instead will be forced to dig his way out of the academic doghouse in order to retain the job come summer camp.
Head coach Randy Edsall announced Monday that the weakside linebacker will miss the remainder of spring practice as he has “some things he’s got to take care of academically.” Whether those academic issues can be resolved before the start of camp in four months or so remains to be seen.
Despite missing four games last season due to injury, Drakeford finished as the Terps’ fourth-leading tackler.
Drakeford is the second projected starter Maryland has lost on the defensive side of the ball to be lost in as many days; Edsall confirmed Saturday that first-team All-ACC defensive end Joe Vellano would miss the remainder of the spring sessions due to a foot injury.
Additionally, two other projected starters at LB -- Alex Twine and Cole Farrand -- have been limited for most of the spring due to their own injury issues.