Jordan Steffy Chosen as Maryland's Starting Quarterback

Jordan Steffy was picked to start at quarterback for Maryland in the season opener against Delaware by coach Ralph Friedgen on Monday.

Steffy lost his starting job last season when he left the fifth game of the season, against Rutgers, with a concussion. Chris Turner took over, guided the Terrapins into the Emerald Bowl and entered summer practice as the favorite to beat out Steffy and Josh Portis.

But Steffy, a fifth-year senior, impressed the coaches in practice enough to start in the Aug. 30 opener. Friedgen made his choice after holding a lengthy discussion with his coaching staff.

“It was a hard decision,” Friedgen said. “We talked about it for a long time last night. We looked at every statistic that we kept, from pass completions, yards per catch, yards after catch, interceptions, percentage of drives scoring, good practices and bad practices. We even consulted with some of the players.

“Really, when you look at all the data, Jordan Steffy has earned the spot. He was ahead in almost every category.”

Friedgen said Turner will serve as the No. 2 quarterback, and that Portis also will have a role with the offense.

“We rotated the quarterbacks with all the teams for the last nine practices, so everybody had an equal shot with every team,” Friedgen said. “I think there’s a credibility thing here. If you don’t reward kids for practicing well, then I don’t know what you can base your decision on. What made it hard is that Chris played well in the games. But based on not only fall practice, but I even went back to spring practices, (Steffy) was far and away ahead in all the statistics.”

Friedgen didn’t dismiss the idea of using all three quarterbacks over the course of the season.

“I think they’ll all end up playing throughout the year, to be honest with you,” Friedgen said.

Kevin Craft Gets UCLA Starting Quarterback Position

Redshirt junior Kevin Craft will start at quarterback for UCLA in its season opener against No. 18 Tennessee.

“He’s earned it with his consistent play and he has the best mastery of the offense at this point,” first-year UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said after practice on Monday.

Craft was competing with redshirt freshman Chris Forcier for the job.

UCLA plays Tennessee on Sept. 1 at the Rose Bowl.

The Bruins lost Patrick Cowan, who was scheduled to be their starter, to a knee injury in spring practice that will sideline him for the season. Ben Olson moved back into the starting role, but he broke his foot at practice on Sept. 9 and is expected to miss at least eight weeks.

Craft transferred from Mt. San Antonio Junior College last spring.

In 2006, Craft played nine games, including five starts, as a redshirt freshman at San Diego State. He was 69-of-121 for 737 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions that season.

He left for Mt. SAC, and was 313-of-511 for 4,231 yards, 44 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season as the Mounties went 10-3 and won the Southern California Junior College championship.

Ohio State's Tressel Impressed with Pryor

Pryor restraint -- When Jim Tressel acknowledged Saturday that he wouldn't hesitate to put Terrelle Pryor into a game right now, my mind shifted into overdrive.

Under normal circumstances, the word-wise Ohio State football coach would have said "he's good, but he's just a freshman." Tressel-ese translation: "He's an amazing talent and will probably play some this season." Or he might have said he could "see him getting on the field at some point this season." Translation: "This kid could be Big Ten freshman of the year."

But Tressel said he would "absolutely" consider putting him on the field now and even said Pryor has "extraordinary ability."

I'll have to study the translation book a little more closely, but I'm pretty sure that means Pryor is on his way to the College Football Hall of Fame.

The high cost of drug use -- When Jamaica's Usain Bolt ran that incredible 100-meter race in the Olympics, shattering the world record despite slowing down to pound his chest and celebrate 20 meters from the finish line, my first thoughts were of performance-enhancing drugs. Sad, isn't it?

This isn't fair to Bolt, obviously, but it isn't fair to the rest of us, either. Bolt's incredible talent has amazed all track officials and competitors who know him, but it's still difficult for many of us to block thoughts of doping when you constantly read about drug cheats in sports and then see a guy run away from everybody else in such a high-profile race.

Even with today's drug-testing, there's probably no way to eliminate that last shred of doubt for many for us. We've been burned too many times by people who swore they were clean right up to the day that they were confronted with the damning evidence.

The athletes pay, but so do we. When you can't marvel without wondering, watching isn't nearly as much fun.

Keeping the right prospects -- As the Indians wallow near the bottom of the American League Central standings, my thoughts turn to the terrific Tribe farm system for which Mark Shapiro and company have been given so much credit.

It's true that Cleveland's farms have cranked out a lot of good players in recent years, but the success some of those players are having on other teams shows how difficult it is to build a World Series champion by simply collecting and developing prospects.

These Indians could use a slugger, and former Tribe farmhand Ryan Ludwick has 31 homers and 92 RBI for St. Louis. Ludwick left Cleveland as a minor-league free agent in 2005. The Indians could use a good, young starting pitcher and Jeremy Guthrie is 10-8 with a 3.18 ERA in 26 starts for Baltimore, which claimed him off waivers from the Tribe in January 2007. They could use a slugging young infielder and had Brandon Phillips -- he hit 30 home runs last year and has 19 now -- but traded him to the Reds for pitcher Jeff Stevens in 2006.

If you don't keep the right guys, a strong minor-league system is just another empty promise.

The Cincinnati Who? -- Now that Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. have been traded, the Reds have become almost a faceless franchise: None of the Reds' old heroes are left.

The Reds have plenty of good young players with a chance to be the new face of the team -- Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce -- but there's not much of a link to even the team's recent past. Since the Big Red Machine days, the Reds lineup has always featured a few familiar, long-running stars and they overlapped -- Dunn, Griffey, Barry Larkin, Sean Casey, Reggie Sanders, Hal Morris, Paul O'Neill and Eric Davis -- but no more.

Now, Ryan Freel is the team's most entrenched position player -- he came up and saw limited action in 2003 -- and he has been on the disabled list since the first week of June. He hopes to return before the end of the season, which would be a good thing for Reds rooters.

Freel is about as close to nostalgia as they're going to get.

USC's Joe McKnight Injured Again

McKnight's latest mishap came only a few days after he injured two fingers, including a slight fracture at the tip of one, when a teammate accidentally closed a dormitory door on McKnight's right hand.

McKnight sat out parts of a few practices after that mishap. He was previously sidelined because of a skin irritation.

McKnight declined to comment Sunday.

"It's unfortunate, Joe keeps coming up with something," Carroll said, adding that McKnight could miss a few workouts.

"He has missed a lot of practice already and it's killing him. He hates the fact that he has. The fingers are fine, he's ready to go, but something else popped up."

McKnight sat out on a night when several players returned from injuries, including tight end Blake Ayles and offensive linemen Alex Parsons and Tyron Smith.

Carroll said he did not know how long cornerback Cary Harris would be out because of a dislocated right shoulder suffered during the scrimmage.

Quarterback battle intensifies

With less than two weeks before the Aug. 30 opener against Virginia, the quarterback derby is moving into a pivotal stretch.

Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain are competing to possibly replace injured starter Mark Sanchez, while Sanchez is working to return in time to play against the Cavaliers.

"I haven't taken any steps back in my rehab so everything is looking good right now, but we'll have to wait and see," said Sanchez, who suffered a dislocated left kneecap 10 days ago.

Carroll said Sanchez was expected to do some running on the field Tuesday and that other elements would be added as he progressed.

Knowing who the starter might be heading into game week was not imperative, according to Carroll.

"Everything is still up in the air and we'll just see," he said. "There's no rush yet."

Both Mustain and Corp said they felt better about their performances in the scrimmage after reviewing film Sunday.

Carroll spent about five minutes on the field after practice talking with Corp.

Asked what they spoke about, Corp said Carroll told him, "Keep working on making plays."

Coming and going

Excuse offensive lineman Zack Heberer if he occasionally hesitates before lining up on the right or left side of the center.

With senior Jeff Byers' status having been uncertain, Heberer had flip-flopped between right and left guard throughout training camp.

"It doesn't matter to me," Heberer said. "It's better to be diverse."

Heberer is expected to return to right guard full-time starting today. Carroll said Byers, who did not play in Saturday's scrimmage, has been cleared to participate in all drills.

USC's Sanchez Optimistic about Playing Opener

USC quarterback Mark Sanchez, who dislocated his left kneecap and was carted off the practice field earlier this month, is feeling much better and hopes to be ready when the No. 3 Trojans open the season at Virginia on Aug. 30.

"I'm optimistic about it, we're ahead of schedule," Sanchez said after taking some drops, throwing some passes and doing a bit of light jogging Monday. "Everything today felt good. That's a good sign. If it were up to me, I'm playing. (But) I want to be ready for the whole season. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

Sanchez, the projected starter for Southern California, was injured Aug. 8 after making a throw and landing awkwardly. He was taken for X-rays and an MRI, and team doctors said there is no ligament, cartilage or bone damage.

"It's painful to try to flex it too much, bend it all the way," Sanchez said. "It's more uncomfortable than anything. The swelling is mostly gone. For me to play against Virginia, I've got to be back Monday or Tuesday of next week. It's very possible. I can't not practice all week, do my rehab, fly to Virginia and play. I'll say Tuesday at the latest.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to play. That's the way I've got to look at it. We'll be fine either way."

The Trojans will be heavily favored at Virginia, with or without Sanchez. Their other scholarship quarterbacks are third-year sophomore Mitch Mustain and redshirt freshman Aaron Corp. Mustain redshirted last season after transferring from Arkansas, where he started eight games as a freshman two years ago. The Razorbacks won all eight games.

Mustain and Corp have shared quarterback duties in Sanchez's absence, although Corp did most of the work with the first team in the past couple of days.

"He's getting close," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said of Sanchez. "He's going to throw the ball to receivers for the first time (Tuesday). We'll see what happens. He's on course to make a recovery by next week."

Carroll said there's no deadline for Sanchez to be able to practice so he can play at Virginia, but added: "We'd love to have him for the week of preparation."

Sanchez, a fourth-year junior, started three games last season in place of injured John David Booty. He completed 69 of 114 passes for 695 yards and seven touchdowns with five interceptions in seven games.

After playing at Virginia, USC will have a week off before facing No. 2 Ohio State on Sept. 13 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in an early-season showdown between two of the country's highest-ranked teams.

Virginia Tech Suspends Zach Luckett Indefinitely

Virginia Tech suspended receiver Zach Luckett indefinitely Monday for a violation of team policy.

Coach Frank Beamer had no further comment beyond announcing the suspension of the 6-foot-3, 212-pound redshirt sophomore.

Luckett was expected to start this season after playing all 14 games last season. He caught two passes for 15 yards made 15 tackles on special teams.

The Hokies are ranked 17th in The Associated Press preseason poll.