With the conclusion of the 2022 NFL season, teams are now looking toward making adjustments and additions to their roster for the upcoming season, and the 2023 NFL Draft prospect pool is filled with talent all around.
The Maryland football team ended the 2022 season with an 8-5 record and a Mayo Bowl victory. The Terps’ passing game was a major factor in the winning season due in large part to a group of wide receivers who are now all looking to hear their name called in this year’s draft.
Jacob Copeland, one of those talented receivers, told Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 10 that he is training for the draft with a Ravens legend.
“Where I’m training at throughout the week, actually the receivers work out with Anquan Boldin,” Copeland said. “He had a lot of success in the NFL, so learning from him … it’s really helped me out over the time of this process.”
Boldin is a former Super Bowl champion receiver with the Ravens who played 14 seasons in the NFL after being taken in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of Florida State. He caught 1,076 passes for 13,779 yards with four teams during his career.
“He’s really teaching you the things that you’re going to need to know going to the league,” Copeland said. “… Being a receiver, how you’re going to run your routes, how you’re prepare for this week, prepare for this opponent and how you’re going to beat this opponent on this play or this rep … the things that you would need to know to be able to go against a player like Jalen Ramsey and all those players.”
Copeland, a 6-foot, 202-pound receiver out of Pensacola, Fla., ran a 4.44 40-yard dash in high school, according to ESPN. He is a projected late-round pick in April’s draft.
Copeland began his career at the University of Florida but took a detour on his college journey in hopes of being more involved in an offense and improving his draft stock. He transferred to Maryland ahead of the 2022 season and ended up catching 26 passes for 376 yards and two scores.
“Growing up in the South, not many people were up-north fans,” Copeland said. “So just by saying that I was going to Maryland, a lot of people did look at me crazy. But I felt like it was the best option for me.”
Copeland further explained the decision.
“Firstly, I knew [head coach Michael Locksley] from past recruitment when he was at Alabama, and I had seen what he did previously at the University of Alabama with receivers and everything,” he said. “And I’ve seen the receiving corps that they had at Maryland, and I felt that there was a talented receiver group. I felt that I could come in and contribute as well.”
Copeland’s numbers from 2022 may not look tremendous, but he was not the only target in Maryland’s spread-the-wealth passing game. The Terps also had veteran receivers Dontay Demus Jr., Rakim Jarrett and Jeshaun Jones. Demus and Jarrett were invited to the NFL Scouting Combine this year along with Copeland.
Scouts seemed to have taken into consideration what type of offense the Terps run.
“Receiving the combine invite was another stepping stone for me,” Copeland said. “I didn’t have the best season that I wanted at Maryland. With that season I had, it didn’t go unnoticed. The scouts knew what I could contribute to, they knew what I could do.”
Should any of these three pass-catchers have success at the next level, they would not be the first Terps receivers to do so, especially in recent years. Maryland products Stefon Diggs and DJ Moore are both No. 1 options on their respective teams, while Torrey Smith won two Super Bowls prior to retiring.
“Watching Stefon Diggs and DJ Moore, they were always big names and some players that stood out during their college years,” Copeland said. “Just knowing what they did previously at Maryland … I felt like it would all play out right and smoothly for the next generation of receivers which I was included in.”
Copeland also briefly discussed the potential of a former college teammate in Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, who is also entering the draft. Richardson is getting buzz as a possible first-round pick and someone the Ravens may look at if they cannot sign Lamar Jackson to a long-term deal.
“I’ve seen the work that he puts in day in and day out,” Copeland said. “But it’s like he naturally has a talent that you can’t deny. … It is not a mistake. If you pick him in the first it is not a mistake. He’s one of those players that’s going to put in the work and he’s going to really show you why he deserved to be in that first round.”
For more from Copeland, listen to the full interview here:
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