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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- By the time his Maryland football career is over, Chris Turner should have all of the qualifications for the reality show "Survivor."

Turner has started 20 games for the Terps without entering a single season as a clear-cut No. 1 quarterback.

Finally, Turner has the position to himself and how he fares will have a huge impact on Maryland's hopes for an ACC championship run.

"Life's not easy; it's full of challenges," said Turner, a fifth-year senior from Chaminade (Calif.) Prep. "No one's going to hand you anything. I'm proud of my career so far.

"It's a new perspective going into this season as the starter. It's something I embrace. Hopefully, I can live up to expectations."

Turner entered the 2008 season as the backup to Jordan Steffy, but Steffy was injured in the third quarter of Maryland's opening game Aug. 30 against Delaware. Turner (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) started the next 12 games and passed for 2,516 yards, good for fifth place on Maryland's single-season list.

Turner had started the last eight games of the 2007 season after another injury to Steffy.

That set up a three-man battle in 2008 between Turner, Steffy and Josh Portis, a quarterback with whom Turner had been linked fatefully since high school.

It was Portis who originally caught Friedgen's eye on a trip to California in the winter of 2004-05. Portis played at Taft High School in Los Angeles.

"Actually, Utah ended up taking a commitment from Portis before [coach] Urban Meyer left," Friedgen said. "Chris played five miles from Josh at a Catholic school out there and I liked his tape."

When Meyer resigned to become the head coach at Florida, Portis followed him. That was a cue to Utah to inquire about Turner, who eventually picked the Terps over the Utes.

When Portis saw that he wasn't going to play at Florida, he, too, surfaced in College Park, Md., only to lose a year's eligibility as the result of an academic offense. At the time he left the program in 2008, he had been beaten out by Turner.

"I don't know if he's been a survivor," Friedgen said of Turner. "I think he's been very productive."

Maryland football has been marked by inconsistency during Turner's career and not just between the sidelines, where the Terps were capable of losing at Middle Tennessee State one week, then beating California the next, as they did last season.

While Friedgen has been Maryland's head coach since 2001, the Terps have had a succession of offensive coordinators.

"When I came in, we had Coach [Charlie] Taaffe," Turner said.

"I was on the scout team and didn't have a role on the team. The following year, Coach Friedgen was the coordinator, so that was my first year learning the offense. And then, lo and behold, we hired Coach [James] Franklin."

Franklin, who had done an earlier tour on the Terps' staff, was brought in from Kansas State to run the offense and subsequently has been named Maryland's "coach in waiting."

"He had a similar offensive philosophy," Turner said, "but it definitely was a transition. I think Coach Franklin is a little more aggressive; he likes to take shots. We kept a lot of the stuff we did well. It was mostly the same terminology."

Turner doesn't see any changes now that Franklin has been designated as Friedgen's successor.

"When Coach Franklin came in, he had that executive feel," Turner said.

"Everyone knew that he had a very bright future. When I heard the news, I wasn't shocked at all."

Friedgen has stressed player leadership since the end of the 2008 season and hopes that Turner, who is contemplating a future in politics, has an executive bearing of his own.

"Being the quarterback, there's a leadership role that comes with the territory," Turner said.

"There are always eyes on you, but I've always felt comfortable in that role. I'm not the loudest guy. I don't bounce off the walls in the locker room, but leadership isn't as effective if you try to force it."