GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Chris Turner had leeway last season--not quite a free pass to make mistakes, but he and his coaches understood there would be growing pains in the first year of a new offense.

Not so much this season.

“This is Year Two and there’s no excuses at this point,” Turner said Sunday at the ACC Football Kickoff.  “It’s Year Two in the offense, it’s installed, guys know it…  I think the biggest difference is that everything’s kind of written in stone at this point, there’s expectations that need to be met.  There really shouldn’t be any gray area as far as expectations.”

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Turner now knows offensive coordinator James Franklin’s system “like the back of his hand,” he said, but its success hinges partly on young, unproven and untested parts, even though many within the program have high hopes for those players.

In other words, Turner could make excuses should Maryland’s offense falter.

The biggest question mark lines up in front of Turner.  The Terps lost 115 combined starts off of last year’s offensive line and return just 19 between two linemen, left tackle Bruce Campbell and center Phil Costa, who made all of his starts at guard.  The linemen atop the depth chart at the three other positions—Paul Pinegar (right tackle), Justin Lewis (right guard) and Andrew Gonnella or Lamar Young (left guard)--played in a combined 10 games last season.

While last season’s senior-laden line was disappointing, the new crop struggled in spring practice, sometimes leaving coach Ralph Friedgen perplexed.  Turner saw several linemen make strides in the summer, but their maturation needs to come quickly for the senior quarterback.

“What I see in the spring and the summer is those younger guys stepping up because athletically, the talent’s there.  We have big, athletic, quick offensive linemen who down the road are going to do extremely good,” he said.  “Unfortunately I don’t have time for that and neither does anyone else.”

Turner signaled out Campbell, Gonnella and backup right tackle R.J. Dill as those who impressed him through the spring and summer.  Campbell has been close to a sure thing all along while Gonnella, a former walk-on, and Dill, a redshirt freshman, have shot up the depth chart with a strong past few months.

Even if Maryland’s offensive line doesn’t come together as quickly as Turner hopes, the offense can still work, he said.  Since the spring Turner has worked with Franklin on his decision-making, speed, timing and footwork outside the pocket.  Turner maintained that Franklin hasn’t tailored the offense to circumvent line struggles—instead, the two have worked to perfect what’s already in place.

“The way I look at it I give myself 2 ½-to-3 seconds to get the ball off,” Turner said.  “I feel like you can put anyone in front of a defense lineman and nine times out of 10 I’m going to have enough time to get the ball off.”

To whom won’t be a problem, Turner emphasized.  Darrius Heyward-Bey might be gone, but Turner is convinced the depth and skill at the position makes this year’s unit superior.  Still, it’s largely unproven.

Torrey Smith’s 24 catches and Ronnie Tyler’s 20 last season were fourth and sixth on the team, respectively, but the rest of the returning receivers combined for just 17 catches.   Nonetheless, Turner feels that several are ready to breakout.

“I feel just as comfortable now with my receiving unit than I ever did last year with Darrius, Isaiah [Williams] and Danny [Oquendo]…  I’m very confident they’ll make me look good this year,” Turner said.

Eight receivers each had moments during the spring while LaQuan Williams, who was out for most of the fall and spring with a leg injury, has impressed in the summer.  “I had forgotten how good he is,” Turner said.

His confidence in the passing game might be tempered if Maryland is unable to run the ball and teams play more defenders back.  While the Terps return their three top backs, the offensive line struggled in the spring to open holes.  In the fall, Maryland lost all four games in which it was held to less than 123 yards rushing.

“We need that running game going at some point, especially with a back like Da’Rel” Scott, Turner said.  “We need those holes for him—Da’Rel’s a game-changing player.”

Despite the lingering question marks, Turner remained optimistic.  Sure, it’s easy to have a rosy outlook on a green resort in July, but Turner made it clear his senior year won’t be the same as last season’s inconsistency.

“We’ve had a whole season, we had a spring, we had a whole summer now,” he said, “so there’s no excuses.”