Maryland head football coach Michael Locksley says Terps fans can expect some young players who haven’t played much this season to be thrust into bigger roles against NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to prepare them for what’s to come in 2023 … and that is especially the case at wide receiver.
Receivers Rakim Jarrett (40 catches for 471 yards), Jacob Copeland (26-376) and Dontay Demus Jr. (22-233) all opted out of the bowl game to prepare for the 2022 NFL Draft. Jeshaun Jones (40-478) is expected to play, but there will be a lot of opportunities for targets otherwise, especially considering tight end CJ Dippre (30-314) hit the transfer portal as well.
Locksley mentioned Octavian Smith Jr. (9-123), Shaleak Knotts (4-12) and Leon Haughton Jr. (1-25) as receivers who have shined in preparation for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which will take place in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 30. All three are true freshmen.
“All these guys now have opportunities to step up and they’ve really done that during these bowl practices that we’ve had,” Locksley said on Glenn Clark Radio Dec. 21. “For us, you’ll see the influx of next year’s team. The young players that’ll be focal points in our system, they’ll be put on display in the game against NC State. To me, it’ll be really competitive because of how we’ve recruited and how we’ve developed these guys and you’ll still get the same kind of product.”
Running backs Roman Hemby and Antwain Littleton introduced themselves to Terps fans in Maryland’s 54-10 victory against Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl last year. Littleton ran for 45 yards and a touchdown on seven attempts, while Hemby ran for 26 yards and a score on five carries. Both were true freshmen who had barely played prior to the bowl game.
Their performances in the Pinstripe Bowl set them up for big seasons as redshirt freshmen. Hemby has run for 924 yards and 10 touchdowns so far, while Littleton has run for 370 yards and six scores. The two have been a solid combo, with Hemby (6-foot, 200 pounds) serving as the explosive runner and Littleton (6-foot, 235 pounds) as the bruiser.
“If you haven’t noticed, my approach to the bowl game is it’s not the last game of the year but the beginning of the next season,” Locksley said. “… I can just tell you going into the NC State game, you’re going to see some young players that have played maybe minimal roles. Now they’re thrust into starting roles and you’ll see almost like the passing of the torch or the transition from last year to this year.”
This marks the second straight year that Maryland will play a former ACC rival in a bowl game. NC State finished the regular season 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. The Terps last played the Wolfpack in 2013, with quarterback C.J. Brown accounting for 397 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-21 Terps win. The all-time series is tied, 33-33-4.
The Wolfpack will be without Devin Leary, the team’s starting quarterback to begin the year. He racked up 1,265 yards and 11 touchdowns in six games before undergoing season-ending surgery on a torn pec. He has since committed to Kentucky via the transfer portal.
MJ Morris replaced Leary but did not play in the final two games of the regular season due to a lower body injury. Ben Finley finished the season as the starter and led NC State to a win against North Carolina in the finale, throwing for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
Receiver Devin Carter (25-406) opted out of the bowl game, but leading rusher Jordan Houston (530) and leading receiver Thayer Thomas (588) are expected to play. Houston, a native of Waldorf, Md., originally committed to Maryland as part of the Class of 2019 but later flipped to NC State.
While Locksley will give younger players an opportunity to play, he is also focused on winning a bowl game against a former rival.
“There’s a huge difference between 8-5 and 7-6. The logic for us is to prepare, and we’re putting together a game plan to try to win the game,” Locksley said. “But definitely for our fans and anybody that’s been associated with Maryland, I’m a big proponent of this type of scheduling. I’d much rather play one of our ACC rivals than play an SMU, which kind of doesn’t fit, or play a Charlotte on the road. This is to me what I’d like to see us do more of — these regional rivalries or these old rivalries from our prior conference. It does galvanize our fan base.”
Locksley also touched on several other topics …
On how Maryland can take the next step as a program:
“I think the big piece is focusing on the trajectory of going in the right direction and then taking those losses and making them lessons for us. When you look at the Purdue game, the blocked extra point — regardless of whether they were onside or offside, we didn’t finish the play on the wing. We had three opportunities inside the 50 where we came away with no points. Those are the things we can control, and I’ve always been really solution-based when it comes to solving things and not a guy that just focuses on the problem. For us, we’ve got to figure out how to finish games like those close games we’ve had. We’ve shrunk the margins of defeat versus some of the top teams in the league, but now [we need to figure out] a way to win those games. That’s a tough step to take, but it’s one that I think our players and our program are ready to take.”
On where the Terps made the most progress as a team:
“I’d say on our defensive side of the ball, the consistency of how we played in the second half of games. The goal is to play that way the [entirety] of the game, but when we started looking at the self-scout against really good teams, our defensive staff did a really good job of figuring out what they were doing, making the necessary adjustments and our players went out and executed. … And then I think our running game as a complement to what everyone knew going in that we had a talented receiver room and always have been able to throw the football. But to win in the Big Ten in November, you’re going to have to run the football. We sputtered there in some of the cold weather, windy, rainy games … but we came back and finished really strong in the Rutgers game. I think those two areas are areas where I saw some vast improvement, but we’ve still got a ways to go.”
On inviting new Towson head coach Pete Shinnick to College Park for bowl practice despite facing the Tigers to start the 2023 season:
“We all do the same things football-wise now. We’re not game-planning for Towson, so what we run and how we do it, he’ll see what we’re doing to prepare for NC State. Now, am I inviting him down to summer camp to watch us get ready for our first game? No, that won’t be the case, but obviously a change was made there. Rob Ambrose was a teammate of mine. I thought he did a phenomenal job there. We all get into this business and understand that the day that we’re hired, the only other things that can happen next is being fired or retiring. They decided to make a change. They brought in a veteran coach who has had great success in all of the different places he’s been. I’ve got a lot of respect for Pete and the job he’s done as a coach at West Florida and some of the other places he’s coached.”
For more from Locksley, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox