Maryland wide receivers Jacob Copeland, Dontay Demus Jr. and Rakim Jarrett declared for the 2023 NFL Draft at the end of the Terps’ regular season in 2022, leaving room for younger receivers to earn more playing time.
One of those receivers with an opportunity is junior Tai Felton, who is looking to build off of a solid performance in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and help the Terps improve after an 8-5 season in 2022.
“Watching those guys helped me,” Felton said of his former teammates. “They kind of gave me the blueprint on what to do and how to do it for us to be a successful team. … I have to fill their shoes now.”
But what does Felton — a 6-foot-1, 185-pound receiver from Ashburn, Va. — bring to the team? Speed, for one.
“My speed is one of the most important things I bring to the offense,” Felton said. “I’m fast. I can run routes. I feel like I’m one of the fastest guys on the team. I feel like I give [defensive backs] a scare because when somebody can run past you whenever they want, they tend to get scared.”
However, that’s not all Felton brings. During the NFL Scouting Combine, Jarrett mentioned Felton was one of the best route runners he has seen.
“He’s a hard worker. He’s quick. He has some of the best routes I’ve seen in college and he’s persistent,” Jarrett said.
Felton, whose Twitter bio simply says “route runner,” says he watched the Atlanta Falcons with his father when Julio Jones and Roddy White played together and models his game after former Falcons receiver Calvin Ridley.
A lot goes into running a good route, Felton said, but one thing stands out as most important.
“There’s a lot, but one thing I would say is just kind of knowing your [defender] and knowing what he likes to do,” Felton said. “If he likes to jam with his left or right, if he likes to press or play off. Just knowing your opponent. If you know your opponent and know what he’s going to do then you know how to react to that movement.”
Felton described last season as a “learning curve” while playing behind his former teammates. He finished the season with 19 catches, 240 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions. He had his best game during the Terps’ 16-12 win against NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, during which he had a career-high four receptions for 69 receiving yards.
“I didn’t play a perfect game,” Felton said. “I made some mistakes but I made some plays that helped the team win at the end of the day, so as long as we got the win that’s all I care about. But that was just a little bit of what I could do. I feel like that’s a good stepping stone for me and other guys to get ready for next season.”
Along with Felton, Octavian Smith Jr. and Shaleak Knotts also received more playing time during the bowl game to prepare them for increased roles as sophomores this coming season.
Head coach Michael Locksley has said on several occasions that he uses bowl games to give younger players a chance to shine heading into the following season. For example, running backs Roman Hemby and Antwain Littleton II both saw carries in the 2021 Pinstripe Bowl as true freshmen. Both backs built on that during the 2022 season.
“Anybody that’s been around here through how we prepare for bowl games understands that you’re going to see a bunch of new faces,” Locksley said during Spring Media Day. “That’s why we kind of say that the bowl game is really the start of the next season for us.”
As such, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl may have served as a preview of what’s to come for Felton in 2023.
“Tai Felton is not a young guy anymore,” Locksley said. “Tai played a lot as a true freshman and played even more a year ago. I expect him to kind of take the role on now as being one of our go-to guys along with Jeshaun Jones.”
With the receiver group losing some experience, Felton is excited about the competition he will face from his teammates. Everyone should “watch out for those guys because those guys are putting in work,” according to Felton, who mentioned Jones, Tyrese Chambers, Leon Haughton Jr., Kai Holloway, Ryan Manning, Kaden Prather and Robert Smith as receivers who push him.
“It’s great working with them because even though I’m an older guy I have people to push me,” said Felton, who added that “we’re all connected, and we’re all with each other. So we all work together. We all fall together. We win together.”
Winning together is Felton’s biggest goal for the 2023 season. He hopes to win the Big Ten championship and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal regardless of his number of catches. Felton says he feels “a little” pressure with an increased role but believes preparation lessens any weight on his shoulders.
“I feel like there’s a little bit of pressure but at the end of the day, if you put in a lot of preparation, all that pressure kind of [goes away] because you prepared yourself and you’re confident with what you do,” Felton said. “So I feel like the more preparation, the less pressure I feel.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox
Originally published April 19, 2023