Maryland football traveled north on April 6 for a spring practice at Morgan State on “Baltimore Day,” and Terps head coach Michael Locksley believes it’s important to promote the Maryland brand in Baltimore.
Maryland has held spring practices at various locations throughout the state in recent years. Baltimore isn’t unfamiliar territory for Maryland, which played at M&T Bank Stadium as recently as 2015. Maryland also recruits the Baltimore region heavily.
“I really think it’s our responsibility as the flagship university for the state to do a good job of promoting football throughout the state,” Locksley said on Glenn Clark Radio April 3. “… It’s been a very fruitful area for our football program and to me, it was a way to say thank you.”
The 2023 season marked Maryland’s third straight with seven or more wins and a bowl victory. To extend that streak in 2024, the Terps will have to do it without Taulia Tagovailoa, who etched his name all over the Maryland record books and provided stability at the quarterback position for four years.
Maryland fans got a preview of the post-Tagovailoa era in the Terps’ 31-13 win against Auburn in the Music City Bowl in Nashville. With Billy Edwards Jr. and Cam Edge sharing the quarterback reps, the Terps routed the Tigers behind a 21-point first quarter.
Edwards and Edge are expected to compete for the starting quarterback position next season alongside NC State transfer MJ Morris. Locksley used the Baltimore practice to evaluate all of his signal-callers.
“Taking this scrimmage up to Baltimore, if you look at some of the positives of it, it gives me a chance to evaluate quarterbacks with people looking and fans watching and seeing how they react in this type of environment,” Locksley said. “All part of the grand scheme as we try to move toward making a decision, but not even close to doing it. Not even close to saying who has legs up.”
Morris has the most college experience of the group. He completed 57.8 percent of his passes for 1,367 yards and 14 touchdowns to six interceptions across nine games in two seasons at NC State. A capable runner and passer, Morris was seen as a good fit for Locksley’s offense when he committed to the Terps.
Edwards, now a redshirt junior, served as Tagovailoa’s backup the last two seasons and impressed with his running ability in limited action. However, there are concerns about his proficiency as a passer. In the Music City Bowl, Edwards ran for 50 yards and his team-leading seventh touchdown of the season, but completed just 6 of 20 passes.
Locksley, however, is confident in Edwards’ arm and says Maryland fans just haven’t gotten a chance to see it. When the 6-foot-4, 219-pound quarterback saw the field, it was often to give the defense a different look — a much bigger, more powerful player than the smaller Tagovailoa. Given the latter’s effectiveness through the air, Maryland didn’t need Edwards to throw the ball.
“When we used Billy, we used Billy in ways that took things off of Lia’s plate, where we’ve got a quarterback we don’t want to expose in the run game, so let’s use Billy,” Locksley said. “So that does not mean Billy is just a runner. That means that’s what we asked Billy to do. … I would venture to say that Billy has the ability to throw the football, contrary to what many people think based on what we’ve asked him to do the last couple of years.”
Edge, who will be a redshirt sophomore, is the youngest and most unknown of the trio — he’s thrown just nine career passes. A former three-star prospect, Edge arguably has the most arm talent in Maryland’s quarterback room, which he displayed on a 57-yard deep strike to Kaden Prather in the first quarter of the Music City Bowl. But Edge is more of a pure pocket passer and doesn’t offer the rushing ability of Morris or Edwards.
Locksley has no problem taking his time making a decision. The quarterback competition may not be settled until one of them leads the offense onto the field for Maryland’s season opener against UConn on Aug. 31.
“Whoever the quarterback will be, will be the guy that takes best care of the football, has the ability to sustain drives and have every drive end in a kick,” Locksley said. “The guy that does that the best will be the starter.”
For more from Locksley, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox