Three Maryland football storylines ahead Big Ten Media Days

Big Ten Media Days kicks off in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon, taking place July 22-24.

Maryland’s delegation will be on hand for the opening day Tuesday, with head coach Mike Locksley set to take the podium at approximately 3:15 p.m. ET from Mandalay Bay Casino and Resort.

Locksley is joined in Sin City by senior defensive back Jalen Huskey, junior linebacker Daniel Wingate and senior offensive lineman Isaiah Wright. The three student-athletes will appear on the Big Ten Network studio set at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Finally, Locksley will join the Big Ten Network studio set at 7:30 p.m. ET.

With the unofficial start of the Big Ten football season having arrived, TSR takes a look at five storylines to keep an eye on:

1. Who will be the Maryland’s starting quarterback?

Perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding the Terps heading into the season, not surprisingly, surrounds the most important position on the field: quarterback.

The Terps bring in highly touted freshman Malik Washington, a two-sport standout at Severn (Md.) Archbishop Spalding in football and basketball who led the Cavaliers to three straight MIAA ‘A’ conference titles on the gridiron.

Locksley also brings in UCLA transfer Justyn Martin, a redshirt junior that was also highly touted coming out of high school. But despite having several years of college ball under his belt, Martin has attempted a total of just 35 passes during his career.

The wildcard could be redshirt freshman Khristian Martin, who was named MVP of the Terps’ spring game this past April, going 16-of-23 for 269 yards and four touchdowns. While not as heralded coming out of high school as the other two, he certainly looked the part.

Washington is the future of Terps football, but is he ready to take the reins now?

Using the spring game as a barometer, Washington looked impressive for a true freshman, going 12-of-18 for 168 yards and two touchdowns.

Justyn Martin struggled at times in the spring game, going 6-of-14 for 69 yards and one touchdown. He had a ball tipped at the line of scrimmage that was recovered for an interception and his timing with receivers seemed off.

While none of the three bring much experience to the table, Justyn Martin is the veteran of the group and despite very limited game reps, did start a game last season for the Bruins versus Penn State, going a respectable 20-of-30 for 156 yards and a touchdown against an elite Nittany Lion defense.

With so much inexperience at quarterback, the competition is almost certain to last throughout fall camp. But perhaps even more likely, the competition will last through the non-conference slate of games before the Terps open Big Ten play at Wisconsin.

2. Who will step up on defense?

Maryland had six players taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, including four on defense. Among those drafted were starting middle linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II and starting safety Dante Trader Jr., the Terps’ top two tacklers last season who started a combined 68 games over the past three seasons.

Also drafted were starting nose tackle Jordan Phillips and fellow defensive lineman Tommy Akingbesote. They made a combined 61 total tackles up front last season as they both started all 12 games for the Terps.

That is a lot of production, size and experience to replace and that doesn’t even include players like Caleb Wheatland and Kellen Wyatt who transferred out of the program. Wheatland led the Terps in sacks last season while Wyatt led the team in tackles for loss.

Junior linebacker Daniel Wingate should be able to step right in and replace Hyppolite without much drop off in the middle. While he didn’t start a game last season, Wingate was the team’s third-leading tackler and was also third in tackles for loss.

Maryland will rely heavily on transfers to step into some other key spots this season.

Up front, Ohio transfer Cam Rice will likely replace Phillips at nose tackle. A former Division II Player of the Year, Rice doesn’t quite have the size of Phillips, but was productive for the Bobcats last season with 30 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.

A weakness at times last year, the secondary is completely revamped heading into the upcoming season.

Starting at corner should be a pair of experienced transfers in Jamare Glasker and Dontay Joyner.

Glasker, a DMV native, started nine games at corner for Wake Forest last season, finishing the year with 37 tackles (33 solo) to go along with four pass breakups, three tackles for loss, and an interception.

Joyner starred at Arkansas State last season, finishing the year with 50 tackles (33 solo), a team-high seven pass breakups, and two interceptions (both coming against Power Four opponents). He recorded a career-high eight tackles and an interception last season versus Michigan.

Along with Jalen Huskey and Lavain Scruggs at the safety spots, the talent and experience is there for the secondary to be a strength of the defense this season.

Maryland will need Wingate to take the next step and guys like Rice, Glasker and Joyner to look the part if the defense is to improve from last season.

3. Can Maryland get to six wins?

Head coach Mike Locksley built up plenty of good will from 2021-2023, winning three straight bowl games while averaging 7.67 wins during that stretch.

But much of that good will was thrown out the window last season, as Maryland won just four games, finishing the season on a five-game losing skid.

As if the losing streak to end the season wasn’t bad enough, the average margin of those losses was 22.6 points.

The good news? Maryland should be favored to win all three of their non-conference games to start the season.

The bad news? The Terps may very well not be favored in a single Big Ten game this season.

So what does it all mean?

Maryland’s ability to get to six wins likely hinges on home games versus Washington and Nebraska and the ability to steal any road game, whether it be at UCLA, Rutgers or Michigan State.

With six wins Locksley would be looking at four bowl appearances in five years with a positive outlook moving forward.

Should the Terps fail hit the six-win mark, things likely become complicated with new athletic director Jim Smith settling into his new job at Maryland. While Smith might not be looking to shake things up and make a big move right away, it isn’t uncommon for new ADs to come in and put their stamp on a program by hiring their own football coach.