Maryland sophomore safety Dante Trader Jr. has big goals for the fall … and the spring.
Nick Cross and Jordan Mosley, both of whom started all 13 games at safety for the Terps last year, departed following the 2021 season. As such, Trader is expected to start at safety this year after getting his feet wet in 2021. The 6-foot, 190-pound safety appeared in 12 of the Terps’ 13 games last year, making 16 tackles and breaking up one pass.
Junior Beau Brade is expected to start at safety alongside Trader, while the top cornerbacks figure to be senior Jakorian Bennett, redshirt junior Deonte Banks and junior Tarheeb Still. Bennett led all Power Five players in total pass deflections (pass breakups and interceptions) last year with 16. Still made 55 tackles and broke up 11 passes. Banks is returning from a season-ending shoulder injury.
If Maryland is to take a step forward from last year’s 7-6 record, the secondary will have to do its part. The Terps allowed 249.5 passing yards per game in 2021, 13th in the 14-team Big Ten. Trader is confident the defensive backfield is ready for the challenge presented by the arduous conference.
“I definitely feel like we’re underrated, even though we have highly-rated players,” Trader said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 17. “We have a really strong cornerback room and an up-and-coming safety room. Those guys — Jakorian, Tarheeb and Banks — all are phenomenal athletes. They compete to the highest level.
“Being in a room with those guys, you bounce ideas off of them, you bounce techniques. They’ll critique you. They’re always on you. … You know the DB’s are going to be rowdy. We compete. That just translates to the field. We communicate, we fly around and that’s what we do.”
Trader and the rest of the defensive backs are tested every day in practice against a first-team offense that is led by redshirt junior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, who threw for a single-season program record 3,860 yards in 2021. The defensive backs match up against receivers Rakim Jarrett (62 catches, 829 yards, 5 touchdowns in 2021), Dontay Demus Jr. (28, 507, 3 prior to a season-ending knee injury) and Jeshaun Jones (18, 224 prior to a season-ending knee injury), among others.
Buffalo’s Quian Williams (64, 835, 2), Charlotte’s Grant DuBose (62, 892, 6) and SMU’s Rashee Rice (64, 670, 9) are the top receivers on Maryland’s nonconference slate.
“You’re going against these guys and you’re like, ‘OK, they got me on this route, they got me on this route,’ but I got them a couple times,” Trader said about competing in practice. “You’re not winning the majority of those battles, but you could some days and some days you’re not. Some doubt kicks in, but then you realize these guys are high-caliber receivers. You go into the game and it’s nothing. When you practice against the best guys, it’s not as hard and you’re as confident as you need to be.”
Trader, a native of Delmar, Del., was a consensus three-star recruit out of McDonogh, but he was more highly regarded as a lacrosse player. The former midfielder was Inside Lacrosse‘s No. 9 overall recruit in the Class of 2021. He initially committed to Maryland as a two-sport athlete.
Trader opted to focus on football during his freshman year instead of playing lacrosse for the eventual national champions in the spring of 2021. It was a difficult decision, but Trader ultimately made the choice that made the most sense for him.
“It was me and my dad going back and forth, weighing the pros and cons with [head football coach Michael Locksley], who was all for it, for me to play both and play lacrosse,” Trader said. “… I wanted to take another step and compete for that No. 1 spot at safety, so I needed that spring to get my weight up, get healthy, get stronger, get faster, get some technique so I can be able to compete the time camp comes. I didn’t want to be behind the draw when I came out of lacrosse season.”
However, Trader is planning on playing lacrosse again this coming spring. Locksley supports it if Trader takes care of what needs to be done on the football side and in the classroom, according to the two-sport star, who is eager to take on the challenge of jugging lacrosse as well.
“Football training is 9, 10 months out of the year,” Trader said. “You’re just training to get 12 opportunities, right? You go switch. You get a month off and go play four or five months of lacrosse and you’ve got to go right into summer or fall camp. … You’ve got to be physically and mentally strong to be able to endure that.”
For more from Trader, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox