If Maryland men’s lacrosse can defeat Virginia on May 25 to secure a trip to the championship game, senior short-stick defensive midfielder Nick Redd would be thrilled for everyone on the Terps — especially the scout team members who prepare the regulars for every game.
“When it comes to game day, they might not be on the field, but they put in so much work on the practice days, so much work on scout teams, whether it be offense or defense,” Redd said on Glenn Clark Radio May 23. “That stuff’s so important, so for them to just be like, ‘Man, we get to be in the national championship,’ is awesome. It would mean so much to me, but it would mean so much to our team as well.”
It’s no surprise that Redd’s first thought would be about the scout team. After all, he was a scout team member in 2021 and 2022, his first two years at Maryland. The Terps made it to the national title game each time, falling to Virginia the first time around and winning it all against Cornell the next year.
Redd remembers his first trip to the championship game particularly well.
“Even though we lost, if I can help the team on the scout team and that’s my role, then cool. Maybe my time does come, maybe it does not come, but that was enough for me,” Redd said. “I came from a small school in Wilmington Friends School [in Delaware]. Everyone else around me [played] MIAA high school lacrosse [or at] a big Philly school [like] Haverford and Malvern Prep, so I was really like, ‘Man, I get to be a part of such a special program and bigger team. I just need to do my role and do it at the best of my ability.'”
The 6-foot-1, 192-pound Redd appeared in 17 games as a defenseman during his first two years, then switched to midfield ahead of his junior season. Since then, he has appeared in all 31 of the Terps’ games, picking up 17 ground balls, causing 11 turnovers and scoring a pair of goals.
Redd’s goal this year came at Penn State:
“I might be playing, but at the end of the day I’m still in a role that’s for the betterment of the team,” Redd said. “That’s all it’s about, really. Yes, I’m on the field playing. I might be playing more and doing certain things and scoring goals, but at the end of the day, it’s just a role that’s a part of the team. It’s about the team. It’s about the team’s success and stuff like that.”
Born in Silver Spring, Redd lived in Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania before settling down in Delaware by middle school. He played high school lacrosse at Wilmington Friends School and club lacrosse for Nation United. Redd was coached by former Terp Isaiah Davis-Allen with Nation United.
Redd understood what he was getting into when he chose to go to Maryland — that it might be a process to see the field.
“I feel like I didn’t come to Maryland with the thought [that] it was about me,” Redd said. “Coming to Maryland, I was kind of told in my recruiting process, ‘Hey, this is Maryland. This is a very competitive school. We get great players every single year. It’s going to be hard to get on the field.’ I was going to be a part of something that was completely bigger than myself. With that, you have to be able to make sacrifices.”
Now Redd has a chance to win another national championship, this time with a bigger on-field role. The Terps (10-5) defeated Princeton and Duke to make it to the national semifinals in Philadelphia, where Virginia awaits. They fell to the Cavaliers, 14-10, in College Park earlier this year, and will look to avenge that loss on a bigger stage.
The Maryland-Virginia winner will face the Denver-Notre Dame winner on Memorial Day.
“We obviously have had a lot of ups and downs this year, but I think through those we’ve been able to learn that you’ve just got to be able to lean on each other,” Redd said. “I think we have a really resilient group. Through that, we trust each other. We have a lot of love for each other, and when that happens, you believe in each other and I think that’s something that really helps us in those situations when things might not be going our way all the time.”
For more from Redd, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics