Mike Locksley excited by unknown in Maryland quarterback room

Coming off a losing season that snapped a run of three straight bowl appearances, Maryland Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley is looking to have a bounce-back season. To do that, he knows that the quarterback position needs to be addressed.

For the time being, the battle to become Maryland’s starting quarterback is still up in the air. Despite that, Locksley shared at Big Ten Media Days that it’s the unknown within the Maryland quarterback room that’s got him excited.

“We’ve had some quarterbacks that have come through,” Mike Locksley said. “And I had the fortune of having Taulia Tagovailoa for four years, four seasons there, and he left here as the Big Ten all-time leading passer. But when you look at the quarterback locker room or the quarterback room today, as it stands, really, really excited about it. A lot because I don’t necessarily know what I have.”

Last season, Maryland was primarily quarterbacked by Billy Edwards. Today, he plays for Wisconsin. That, essentially, leaves a three-way battle for the starting job between Justyn Martin, Malik Washington, and Khristian Martin.

Justyn Martin was a four-star recruit coming out of high school who started his career at UCLA. The most experienced of the bunch as a redshirt junior, he played in three games last year for UCLA, completing 24 of 35 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. Malik Washington, meanwhile, is a true freshman who comes in as a four-star recruit and the 11th-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2025. Finally, Khristian Martin was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2024 who took a redshirt last season.

“I equate that quarterback room a lot to — and I just was telling Tony in the back — a lot like when you have a baby in the crib, and you throw the snake in the crib with the baby. The baby doesn’t know that a snake is bad,” Locksley said. “And that’s kind of what those quarterbacks when the new guy in Justyn that’s never played in the system, Malik, who has been much talked about, and then you throw in Khristian Martin, who a lot of you guys are surprised by what you saw Khristian do in the spring game, but I wasn’t. He’s a guy that, a year ago, traveled with us as a true freshman every game, and I thought he had the right tools.”

Along with a new quarterback, Mike Locksley and Maryland are going to have a new offensive coordinator. Pep Hamilton, a former NFL offensive coordinator, is taking over at Maryland. That, in its own right, is going to have a massive impact on that quarterback battle.

“Pep Hamilton, who I brought in as my OC, one of my closest friends in this business, has done a tremendous job in preparing these guys. I’m really looking forward to getting into fall camp, having an opportunity to really see these guys and how they perform, and who gives us the best chance to score points. I think they all three are very similar in their skill set. All three have great size, big arms to be able to take advantage of all parts of the field, while also being really athletic enough to make plays with their feet if need be,” Locksley said.

“To me, the great thing about the Terps this year, in my opinion, is the fact that we’re young, and we don’t know what we don’t know. I’ve had a lot of fun with teams like that, and I’m looking forward to this one.”

Locksley and Maryland will need to decide on a quarterback soon. The Terrapins open the season on August 30th with a home game against FAU out of The American.