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Takeaways: Maryland football’s bowl win over Auburn showcases quarterback competition, depth entering 2024

edward lee, baltimore sun
·8 min read

Preston Howard and Dylan Wade were probably not going to help many Maryland football fans forget that tight ends Corey Dyches and Rico Walker entered the transfer portal shortly after the end of the regular season.

But Howard, a redshirt freshman who grew up in Arbutus and graduated from McDonogh, and Wade, a freshman, each caught touchdowns passes from quarterbacks Billy Edwards Jr. and Cameron Edge, respectively, that helped stake the Terps to a 21-0 advantage in the first quarter that they rode to a 31-13 victory over Auburn on Saturday afternoon in the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

Howard, whose 5-yard reception gave Maryland a 14-0 lead, did not make another catch Saturday, and Wade caught one more pass for 15 yards to finish with two receptions for 18 yards. But coach Mike Locksley was encouraged by what he saw from that pairing after the departures of Dyches and Walker.

“The tight end room is a talented room,” he said. “It just was really, really young this year, and I think the two young guys you watched today, Dylan and Preston, you saw a precursor of what I think their future can be here. Because they’re both big, they’re both 245-, 250-pound guys. They have the ability to block the C area. They have the ability to run.

“We’ve recruited that position, and it’s been a vital position in our offense. To have those two young guys, and you throw in [freshman AJ] Szymanski, [a Timonium native and Loyola Blakefield graduate] who came in the short-yardage situations that we’ve had all year, I like where we are at the tight end position. I like the way that the position is being developed, and I think they both took a step forward today.”

Here are three more observations from Saturday afternoon’s win.

Maryland’s quarterbacks flashed in the first half, but the competition is far from over

For a duo that had combined for only 13 pass attempts in the regular season, Edwards and Edge came out roaring in the first half.

Edwards, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from Wake Forest, completed six of 13 passes for 126 yards and the 5-yard touchdown pass to Howard. He also carried the ball seven times for 42 yards and a score in the first 30 minutes, becoming the first Terps quarterback with a touchdown pass and run in a bowl game since Scott McBrien in the 2004 Gator Bowl.

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Edge, a redshirt freshman, connected on all three of his throws for 75 yards and had the 3-yard scoring strike to Wade.

Locksley was optimistic about what he saw from the pair in what essentially amounted to a live audition for next season.

“Just the learning piece of that is what really excites me,” he said. “That’s when I say that being able to practice and play in a game like this is just so instrumental in us being able to continue to develop. You can’t get this type of experience, and that’s why I always say it’s a precursor to next year while also trying to finish up this season.”

As well as Edwards and Edge played in the first half, it was a dramatically different story in the second. Edwards misfired on all seven passes he threw, and Edge went 1 of 3 for 7 yards and one interception.

“Like I said, we left some meat on the bone, but those first two drives and the defense playing the way they were in the first half, we were able to get some early momentum and carry that on to the rest of the game,” Edwards said.

Their performances in the second half opened the door for redshirt freshman Jayden Sauray, freshman Champ Long, and sophomore MJ Morris, a transfer from North Carolina State, to challenge Edwards and Edge for the right to succeed Taulia Tagovailoa as next season’s starter.

While praising the play of Edwards and Edge, graduate student wide receiver Jeshuan Jones seemed to recognize the crowded field for the position.

“This moment just showed their preparation throughout this whole season, and I feel like both of them played well,” he said. “I think they both played well, and I think they both offer a lot, and you’ve got a transfer coming in, so I think that quarterback competition will be a good one.”

The secondary cupboard might not be as bare as initially feared

The secondary was perhaps the most depleted position following the regular season after three cornerbacks, junior Corey Coley, sophomore Gavin Gibson and freshman Tamarcus Cooley, entered the transfer portal. And then senior Tarheeb Still, the team’s leader in interceptions with five, opted out to concentrate on his NFL aspirations.

Against Auburn, senior Ja’Quan Sheppard took his customary starting spot and was joined by redshirt junior Glendon Miller and sophomore Lionel Whitaker in the defense’s nickel package. Miller returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter and finished with three tackles, redshirt freshman cornerback Perry Fisher compiled three tackles, two pass breakups, one sack and one fumble recovery and redshirt freshman safety Lavain Scruggs, a Baltimore native and Archbishop Spalding graduate, made two tackles and intercepted one pass.

Miller said he had an inkling that the retooled secondary would fare well against the Tigers.

“I’ve seen they wanted to play,” he said. “Coming into the meetings, all of that, walkthroughs, they seemed more locked in, so they seemed like they were ready to step up and take the next step, which they did.”

Senior linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II echoed Miller’s sentiment, saying, “It says that we have a next-man-up mentality. Everyone on the defense knows their job and their assignment, and they know how to execute. We have a lot of young guys who take pride in making plays and being where they need to be.”

After the game, Sheppard announced his intention to make himself available for the NFL draft. But add freshmen Jonathan Akins (two tackles), Kevis Thomas (one) and Whitaker (one), and it might seem understandable why Locksley feels better about the cornerback position than he might have a few weeks earlier.

“I think we’ve got a bright future, and I’ve said that around here,” he said. “The best part of this program is still ahead for us. Seeing [Thomas] out there competing for the deep ball, seeing Perry Fisher making plays in the slot, playing a little slot corner. Seeing [Akins] out there, some of these guys on the defensive side of the ball that kind of introduced themselves … to me, I think it shows that we’ve recruited well and we’ve developed the players behind, but obviously still got a lot of room to grow.”

Is the best ahead?

Since Locksley took over the program before the 2019 season, he has popularized the acronym, “TBIA,” which stands for “The Best Is Ahead.”

Time will tell whether that future awaits Maryland, but the program can at least enjoy a three-year run during which it won three consecutive bowls for the first time in school history. The foundation was set by a senior class recruited and built by Locksley, who understood the sacrifice the players made when agreeing to join him.

“This is a show-me-first society that we’re in, and we were selling a vision,” he recalled. “We were selling what it looked like four years, five years in our program, and this group took the vision and played a major role in making it come to fruition.

“That’s why I said, like I said, the last three, four groups of seniors that have come through this program, all of the different coaches that have been a part of our program, whether they’re here now and are gone, even players that just entered the portal, they all played a role in helping us establish to put Maryland football back to where people give it the respect that I think it’s always deserved.”

The hope is that the Terps’ recent success will continue to attract some of the area’s best recruits to College Park as well as land the occasional impact player via the transfer portal. Even so, qualifying for bowls isn’t set in stone, which is why Jones took time to spend several minutes on the field after the game to soak everything in.

“You don’t get many of these opportunities, and I’ve only had three in my six years here,” he said. “You have to make the most of them, and kind of preaching that to the young guys, letting them know that they’re up next. Guys like [junior wide receivers] Tai Felton and Kaden [Prather], they’ve got to lead the room. Just stuff like that.

“It’s been tough, honestly, and it’ll be probably harder to see them leave and get on that bus because I head back to Florida. It’ll be tough, but it’s been amazing. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.”