Terps Football: April Roundtable

Baltimore Sports and Life (BSL) Terps Analysts Pat Donohue, Mike Popovec, and myself have come together to discuss some Maryland Football, as we begin to look ahead to the fall.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Will the Terps be stronger on the offensive or defensive side of the ball in 2020?

Pat: With a few more starters returning on the offensive side of the ball and Locksley being an offensive-minded head coach, I’ll give the edge to the offense here. However, with questions at nearly every position, I do expect Maryland’s offense to have its fair share of struggles in 2020. I could see wide receiver and tight end being positions of strength for the Terps but, obviously, a lot of that has to do with the quarterback play, which is murky right now for Maryland.

Mike: I agree with Pat there is not a huge advantage here but yes the offensive line does return a fair amount of experience and at times has had a modicum of success. However the offensive line has underperformed for most of the last 5 years despite some highly recruited players in those positions. Part of that can be attributed to multiple schemes and coaches but then again not one of those coaches was able to get them to play to the level they were recruited at tells me there were some unfortunate busts. This has to be the area though that the Terps start making strides.

Zack: I don’t think there’s one clear advantage here, but I’ll give a slight edge to offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery’s unit. They return and gain a ton of talent at the wide receiver position, and the offensive line will have more experienced players on it than last season. There are some big holes to fill at the running back position, but the team does gain some very talented freshmen. The biggest question mark comes from the quarterback room, where only two scholarship signal-callers remain on the roster. Locksley is hoping that another year in his system will improve the play of Josh Jackson, but a shortened off-season may seriously hinder that development.

Which freshman will have the biggest impact during the 2020 season?

Pat: I’m looking at freshman running back Penny Boone as the first-year player who can come in and have the biggest impact right away. It remains unclear if junior Tayon Fleet-Davis will be reinstated to the team or not, but even if he is, Boone will have a good chance to win the starting job and possesses all the tools to do so. I think freshman wide receiver Rakim Jarrett is by far the most talented freshman joining the team, but I think the opportunity presented to Boone will give him a chance to have the earlier impact. Freshman linebacker Ruben Hyppolite will likely be a difference-maker on defense, but it could take him some time to get his feet wet, especially with the Terps returning more able bodies at linebacker than they are in the backfield.

Mike: WR Rakim Jarrett no doubt is a huge pickup and a big reason why the Terps finished #31 Overall and #6 in the Big Ten otherwise they would have had what I consider a somewhat disappointing Year 2 recruiting class for Locksley. 4-Star RB Peny Boone has a chance to make a real impact at RB that has quickly lost a lot of players at a position that was once a position of depth. Maryland has some solid LBs in Chance Campbell and Ayinde Eley, they also have Clemson transfer Shaq Smith back but 4 Star LB Ruben Hyppolite II is one to watch, he will need to impress to bump out a starter but he will be pushed with some good players around him. They need a Freshman recruit to burst on the scene and be impactful on defense not just a learn/rotational player. While they are not Freshman look for the Juco Transfers in Ami Finau, Almosse Titi and Mosiah Nasili-Kite on the defensive front. Juco’s are usually boom or bust but if they can contribute that would be huge for a defensive front that needs a lot of help.

Zack: Rakim Jarrett, hands down. Locksley brought in a number of very talented players in his 2020 recruiting class, but none is more talented or more ready to contribute immediately than Jarrett. I expect him to be used in a similar way that Stefon Diggs was used by Locksley during his Maryland career, working primarily out of the slot and touching the ball in a number of different ways.

With COVID-19 taking away all of the Terps’ spring practice sessions, will Lance LeGendre have enough time to win the starting quarterback job or will Michael Locksley go with the experience of Josh Jackson?

Pat: This is a good question, and who knows if we’ll have a regular fall camp schedule or not, but assuming we do at this point I think those few weeks in August could be what determines the starting quarterback job. Legendre being on the team last year, and even getting some playing time, should have him familiar with the playbook and most of the offensive personnel, but he’ll have to prove that he can run the offense in practice before Locksley will let him start over Jackson. Jackson’s experience will give him an early edge, but if Legendre shows that he has made any sort of leap from year one to year two then I won’t be surprised if Locksley decides to give him a shot. My money right now would be on Jackson starting the season to see if he can get on a roll and build confidence as Legendre continues to develop. But the leash will likely be short.

Mike: The safe pick is Jackson here but he looked downright bad for the Terps last season outside of the first two weeks, while acknowledging his O-Line did him no favors. Given the fact that Locksley is in a rebuild and the future is not Jackson, I do think Legendre will have a chance to win the job and unless he looks very poor in practice probably should get the job unless Jackson does a 180. Legendre did get a year in the playbook last season.

Zack: If the team had undergone a full spring session of practice and training, the competition between Jackson and LeGendre still likely would’ve stretched into late August. With the spring gone and summer sessions still up in the air, it’ll be very tough for LeGendre to win the job behind center. I’d fully expect Locksley to roll with Jackson barring some unforeseen development, though LeGendre will be breathing down his neck in practice every week and Jackson’s leash will be much short than it was last season.

What does a successful 2020 season look like for the Terps in Locksley’s second year?

Pat: With tons of roster turnover and a shortened offseason, expectations for the Terps will have to be held in check for 2020. It shouldn’t be hard to amass the three wins from a year ago, but Maryland might not be much better in the short term. Unfortunately, with another tough schedule and not much more talent across the board, we could be looking at another 3-to-5-win season. Five wins might have to be considered a success given the circumstances. A bowl berth would be a huge win for the Terps and show that Locksley truly has this ship heading in the right direction.

Mike: This in a lot of ways is really year one for Locksley who had root out the guys that clearly don’t belong in his program and that presented problems for the coaches. Last season the staff had to go light in discipline and in how they coached the players because of all they had been through during the short Durkin tenure that included the death of Jordan McNair. That will start to change I believe beginning this year. Let’s be honest last year at times they couldn’t even do the basics well. For me I am looking for them to be competent to begin with and then I am looking for success to translate into QB development and spurts of better play in the trenches.

Zack: I’m of the belief that a coach’s success during his first two seasons in charge of a football program shouldn’t be measured by records. Throw those out the window and measure success by how he’s building his program and what the program’s culture looks like. Locksley has purged a good portion of his roster from last season because he had players who didn’t fit his culture. In a successful 2020 season, we should start to see evidence of that improved culture both on the field and off the field.

Currently the two QBs on the roster have different skill sets, if LeGendre is the future, don’t they need to sign a QB that is more like LeGendre should he get hurt and or to compete with him?

Pat: From the quarterbacks Maryland is looking at in the 2021 class, Caleb Williams and Brian Plummer, it would appear that Locksley & Co. are targeting athletic, dual-threat quarterbacks that can complement their arm with their athleticism. Williams — the No. 1 QB in the class — would be a home run who would likely take the starting job right out from under Legendre right away. Plummer would need more time to develop, but be very similar in skill set to Legendre. In terms of 2020, the Terps might just have to shift gears suddenly if QB1 gets hurt or benched at any point.

Mike: Pat was correct in his description of style of QB that Locksley’s has worked with and not just at Alabama, Maryland included. The fact that Locksley can work with all kinds and tailor his offense around what works best for that player. However there is something to be said about continuity and I do think that a player more like Legendre would be better to have coming into the game to keep things the same then having to radically alter your style in the middle of a game. That said versatility and being able to throw all different kinds of attack at a defense are an advantage. Clearly this season you have two radically different QBs.

Zack: Locksley has never preferred one style of quarterbacks over another. While he was calling plays at Alabama, he designed successful offenses for both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa. His offense doesn’t rely on a quarterback being able to run or not, that’s the beauty of the run-pass option. If his quarterback can run, it becomes a triple RPO (RB run, QB run, QB pass). If his quarterback is less mobile, it’s more of a double RPO (RB run, QB pass). Locksley’s offense is easily adaptable, so he’ll add the best quarterbacks that he can and they’ll dictate the plays that he calls.

How far away are the Terps from at-least 5-7 to 7-5 seasons?

Pat: With the 2021 recruiting class off to a hot start (currently ranked No. 11 nationally according to Rivals) and the 2020 class yielding some heavy hitters on each side of the ball like Rakim Jarrett and Ruben Hyppolite as well as an influx of some big-bodied JUCO talent, it could be just one more rough year for Maryland before the Terps turn things around and find themselves bowl eligible moving forward. Mix in the construction of the new football facilities and Locksley’s recruiting prowess, and I think this program is heading in the right direction and could consistently be a bowl team starting in 2021. Continuing to bulk up then offensive and defensive lines as well as finding an answer at quarterback will be the biggest factors that determine how this pans out.

Mike: First this Covid-19 situation comes at a real bad time for Maryland and while everyone has to deal with it this may set the Terps back by a year unfortunately. Second 7-5 seasons will be more on the high end for this program due to being in the East Division of the Big Ten and because the West Division is getting better. Look I think most of us would take 7-5 year in year out with competitive games any day of the week. I don’t think 7-5 is necessarily in the cards for 2021 either but it should be more realistic a year from now. If you had to nail me to the wall I say 2022. This season Towson should be a win. Northern Illinois lost their coach to Temple and suffered last season but has usually been a solid program. West Virginia lost their coach to Houston last season and is in rebuild but they have had a lot more success over the last ten years than Maryland. All three are winnable but I say 2-1. The Terps will have chances against Indiana, Northwestern (I expect them to bounce back this season) and Rutgers. They also play Michigan State very tough and the Spartans are definitely in rebuilding mode. I think the Terps though are likely a 4-8 to 5-7 team this season. That doesn’t mean they can’t be more competitive in their losses however and show progress. Its not all about wins and losses right now.

Zack: As I said above, I don’t think a head coach should be judged based on record until his third season. That being said, in an ideal world Maryland would be closer to 5-7 in 2020 and to 7-5 in 2021. The schedule will obviously dictate the specifics there, but I think the expectation for any coach’s third season is bowl eligibility. I think the Terrapins are on the right track there, so I’d say they’re one year away from postseason play.