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All is well with Maryland football.
That is at least the vibe players and coach Michael Locksley put out after the team’s annual spring game on Saturday at SECU Stadium in College Park. Despite the recent loss of 10 players to the spring transfer portal, the Terps insist there is no reason to panic or despair.
“That’s the way the college landscape is now,” senior wide receiver Octavian Smith Jr. said. “You lose guys, but you bring guys in. It’s just the way college football is now. We lost guys, but we lost guys in years before that. But Coach Locks, he does his thing when it comes to recruiting. Me, I’ve been here all four years, and I’m not worried. We’re going to be a good team no matter what.”
Said sophomore linebacker Keyshawn Flowers: “We have a lot of great talent at the end of the day. We just move forward and take it day by day.”
Such confidence might seem refreshing and warranted after what transpired over the last 10 months. Last season, Maryland slogged through one of its most disappointing campaigns under Locksley, finishing with a 4-8 overall record and a 1-7 mark in the Big Ten that matches the 2019 squad’s school record for most setbacks in conference play.
In December, the Terps lost several players to the transfer portal, including starters in redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (Wisconsin), redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby (Indiana) and sophomore cornerback Kevis Thomas (Kentucky). They also gained some potential key contributors in redshirt junior quarterback Justyn Martin (UCLA), redshirt junior left tackle Rahtrel Perry (Central Connecticut State), redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Eyan Thomas (Saint Francis) and redshirt junior cornerback Jamare Glasker (Wake Forest).
When the spring window opened, Maryland bade farewell to 10 more players, including two starting linebackers in juniors Caleb Wheatland (Auburn) and Kellan Wyatt (Indiana), three offensive linemen who saw action last year and a kicker. The Terps also brought in four defensive linemen, a wide receiver and a safety, and as many as eight more players are expected to join, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
But Locksley pointed out that half of the program’s 32 signed recruits will not report to campus until June 1. Maryland’s high school recruiting class ranked 24th nationally, according to ESPN. Four-star defensive end Zahir Mathis picked the Terps over Michigan and Ohio State, and he’s among the team’s summer arrivals.
“We’ll have some young guys coming in from high school,” he said Saturday. “The portal closed yesterday, and as we always say, the portal giveth, and it taketh. We’ve added some pieces, we’ve lost some pieces. What we’ll do now is, we’ll add and subtract things and put our roster together. Most of the team building, most of what we know and learn about our team will take place in June, July, August, and then we’ll see what it looks like come September.”
The players clearly trust in Locksley’s ability to fill holes created by the departures.
“It’s definitely a process, but I feel like come June 1 when we see our set team and where everybody’s going to be, I feel like we’ll be fine,” said freshman quarterback Malik Washington, a Glen Burnie resident and Spalding graduate who is vying with Martin to start in the season opener against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 30.
Until an expected NCAA revenue-sharing plan becomes official, players leaving for greener – and more financially tempting – pastures will continue.
“I think those guys that left, they did what they had to do,” said Flowers, a Severn resident and Spalding graduate. “It’s a business at the end of the day, and we understand that it’s a business.”
The players who left in the spring combined to play in 143 games. That is a significant amount of experience to lose, but Locksley did not seem concerned.
“You can’t restock game experience,” he said. “You have to get game experience, and that’s my job to get these young guys ready to play the way we practice.”
If there is a silver lining to be gleaned from the setbacks in the spring transfer portal, the departures have paved the way for players to step into more prominent roles. In the spring game on Saturday, 13 of 22 players on offense and defense who have zero starts at Maryland took the field first.
“It definitely opens up a lot of opportunities for other guys like myself,” said Flowers, who made one tackle for loss and intercepted a Martin pass deflected by redshirt junior defensive tackle Aaron Folivi in the third quarter of the spring game. “A guy that I looked up to, Caleb Wheatland, he transferred. But it’s opened up opportunities and given people opportunities to step up.”
How quickly the players learn under new coordinators Pep Hamilton (offense) and Ted Monachino (defense) will go a long way in determining whether the Terps can improve from last year and return to a bowl for the fourth time in the past five years. One factor might be forging the kinds of relationships that can bond the veterans and newcomers.
“We’ve got all summer to get together and build that chemistry, build that brotherhood,” Smith Jr. said. “At the end of the day, we’re all we got and all we need. It’s going to boil down to all 22 or all 11 that’s on that field going into that game. Everybody’s got to rely on each other to do their job, and we’ll be all right.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Continue reading...
That is at least the vibe players and coach Michael Locksley put out after the team’s annual spring game on Saturday at SECU Stadium in College Park. Despite the recent loss of 10 players to the spring transfer portal, the Terps insist there is no reason to panic or despair.
“That’s the way the college landscape is now,” senior wide receiver Octavian Smith Jr. said. “You lose guys, but you bring guys in. It’s just the way college football is now. We lost guys, but we lost guys in years before that. But Coach Locks, he does his thing when it comes to recruiting. Me, I’ve been here all four years, and I’m not worried. We’re going to be a good team no matter what.”
Said sophomore linebacker Keyshawn Flowers: “We have a lot of great talent at the end of the day. We just move forward and take it day by day.”
Such confidence might seem refreshing and warranted after what transpired over the last 10 months. Last season, Maryland slogged through one of its most disappointing campaigns under Locksley, finishing with a 4-8 overall record and a 1-7 mark in the Big Ten that matches the 2019 squad’s school record for most setbacks in conference play.
In December, the Terps lost several players to the transfer portal, including starters in redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. (Wisconsin), redshirt junior running back Roman Hemby (Indiana) and sophomore cornerback Kevis Thomas (Kentucky). They also gained some potential key contributors in redshirt junior quarterback Justyn Martin (UCLA), redshirt junior left tackle Rahtrel Perry (Central Connecticut State), redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Eyan Thomas (Saint Francis) and redshirt junior cornerback Jamare Glasker (Wake Forest).
When the spring window opened, Maryland bade farewell to 10 more players, including two starting linebackers in juniors Caleb Wheatland (Auburn) and Kellan Wyatt (Indiana), three offensive linemen who saw action last year and a kicker. The Terps also brought in four defensive linemen, a wide receiver and a safety, and as many as eight more players are expected to join, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
But Locksley pointed out that half of the program’s 32 signed recruits will not report to campus until June 1. Maryland’s high school recruiting class ranked 24th nationally, according to ESPN. Four-star defensive end Zahir Mathis picked the Terps over Michigan and Ohio State, and he’s among the team’s summer arrivals.
“We’ll have some young guys coming in from high school,” he said Saturday. “The portal closed yesterday, and as we always say, the portal giveth, and it taketh. We’ve added some pieces, we’ve lost some pieces. What we’ll do now is, we’ll add and subtract things and put our roster together. Most of the team building, most of what we know and learn about our team will take place in June, July, August, and then we’ll see what it looks like come September.”
The players clearly trust in Locksley’s ability to fill holes created by the departures.
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“It’s definitely a process, but I feel like come June 1 when we see our set team and where everybody’s going to be, I feel like we’ll be fine,” said freshman quarterback Malik Washington, a Glen Burnie resident and Spalding graduate who is vying with Martin to start in the season opener against Florida Atlantic on Aug. 30.
Until an expected NCAA revenue-sharing plan becomes official, players leaving for greener – and more financially tempting – pastures will continue.
“I think those guys that left, they did what they had to do,” said Flowers, a Severn resident and Spalding graduate. “It’s a business at the end of the day, and we understand that it’s a business.”
The players who left in the spring combined to play in 143 games. That is a significant amount of experience to lose, but Locksley did not seem concerned.
“You can’t restock game experience,” he said. “You have to get game experience, and that’s my job to get these young guys ready to play the way we practice.”
If there is a silver lining to be gleaned from the setbacks in the spring transfer portal, the departures have paved the way for players to step into more prominent roles. In the spring game on Saturday, 13 of 22 players on offense and defense who have zero starts at Maryland took the field first.
“It definitely opens up a lot of opportunities for other guys like myself,” said Flowers, who made one tackle for loss and intercepted a Martin pass deflected by redshirt junior defensive tackle Aaron Folivi in the third quarter of the spring game. “A guy that I looked up to, Caleb Wheatland, he transferred. But it’s opened up opportunities and given people opportunities to step up.”
How quickly the players learn under new coordinators Pep Hamilton (offense) and Ted Monachino (defense) will go a long way in determining whether the Terps can improve from last year and return to a bowl for the fourth time in the past five years. One factor might be forging the kinds of relationships that can bond the veterans and newcomers.
“We’ve got all summer to get together and build that chemistry, build that brotherhood,” Smith Jr. said. “At the end of the day, we’re all we got and all we need. It’s going to boil down to all 22 or all 11 that’s on that field going into that game. Everybody’s got to rely on each other to do their job, and we’ll be all right.”
Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.
Continue reading...
