Maryland Coach DJ Durkin added a surprising wrinkle to his first depth chart release on Monday evening, announcing that true freshmen quarterbacks Tyrrell Pigrome and Max Bortenschlager would back up starter Perry Hills during Saturday’s season opener against Howard. Senior quarterback Caleb Rowe, considered to be a legitimate challenger to Hills for the starting job before fall camp, was nowhere to be found on the two-deep.  [Shane Cockerille came to Maryland to play quarterback. Now he’s a starting linebacker.]  Less than 24 hours later, Durkin elaborated on his decision during his weekly news conference, explaining that Rowe is still not 100 percent healthy after sitting out the first half of fall camp with an undisclosed injury. While Rowe but has been practicing for much of the past two weeks and has said his ailment has nothing to do with his surgically repaired left knee, it nonetheless has held him back in the five-quarterback race to win the starting job.  “Caleb is probable for [Howard]. He’s practicing now, he’s back out on the field, he’s doing stuff. He’s not 100 percent. He missed some time there through camp, and that’s probably indicative of why the depth chart looks the way it does right now,” Durkin said. “At the same time, those two freshmen have really shown things at times.”  Durkin called the depth chart — which featured a number of surprises on Monday, including three two-way players — fluid at all positions, but the staff is focused on creating stability at quarterback after the position spun out of control last season. Hills has won over Durkin with not only his development as a passer — partly aided with the help of former Washington Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte this summer — but also with his leadership style and “linebacker-type mentality.”  [Will Likely is listed as a two-way starter and more takeaways from Maryland’s first depth chart]  Whether that translates to more efficiency in coordinator Walt Bell’s offense remains to be seen. Both Pigrome and Bortenschlager could very well end up taking snaps in Saturday’s opener, but it would be surprising if Rowe played given his medical situation. Durkin did not address the status of redshirt freshman Gage Shaffer, who was said “to be in the mix” late last week after showing flashes during camp. Shaffer was also held out of the open scrimmage on Aug. 20 as a health precaution.  Durkin also said on Tuesday that while Hills is the clear-cut starter, he is open to the possibility of playing more than one quarterback at a time, although it would depend on certain variables such as matchup and scheme. The priority now is to find stability in Hills and continue to stoke the position with as much competition as possible, which will inevitably happen when Rowe returns to full strength,  “That’s the depth chart going into week one,” Durkin said, “but we re-evaluate it and look at the depth every week based on how guys play, how they prepare and how things shake out.”
That from Terrapins Coach DJ Durkin, who said the position remains fluid after releasing the first depth chart on Tuesday afternoon.