SOTC Update: Maryland Terrapins

The Terps took a rather large step backward in '24. There is a big coaching staff turnover here and a lot of losses in the talent department thus far in the off-season.

Mar 02, 2025

State of the Chart™ Recap Edition

Live All-In Ranking: 69th
Offense: 91st
Defense: 66th
2024 Results: 4-8 (1-8 in Big Ten)

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|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ SUMMARY

It took Mike Locksley a couple of seasons to allow his recruiting prowess turn into wins on the field. He eventually got this group to a consistent 7-8 win program, which is acceptable in the Big Ten. Last year, things took a turn for the worse with a rough four-win season, and it really could have been worse. The offense derailed under Josh Gattis’ watch, and the defense did all it could to keep it from actually getting worse. They ran fast but needed to be one-dimensional, passing a good percentage of the time. It became predictable, and that’s not a good place to be, especially when playing the kind of top-end opposition they do. The offensive line was a real problem, forcing talented quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. to do too much. Eventually, it unraveled, and they lost seven of eight after a 3-1 start. We want to call this a one-year outlier, and the Terps will just pick back up and get back on the horse to a 7-8 win team again. However, early returns in the portal paint a discouraging picture. Unless some of these patented Locksley recruiting classes are able to step into roles, this could stay where it is — even with a much easier schedule in 2025.

|||||| HEAD COACH AND COACHING STAFF

Mike Locksley’s seat is warming here in College Park. After a slow start to his tenure, he built the roster he wanted and got them to 7-8 wins in 2021-23, but fell to just four wins in 2024 and things really took a turn for the worse. It could just be a one-year blip but the Terps will need to get back to that 8-win plateau to get this regime back in good standing. He’ll attempt to do so with a revamped staff.

Coaching Staff Notes/Changes:

This staff has gone through quite the overhaul after a down season. They will have new offensive, defensive and special teams leadership under Locksley. They also shifted some responsibilities within the current staff.
Pep Hamilton has been hired to take over the offense. A long-time, respected offensive mind who has bounced around a lot recently and took a break from coaching one season (2022) as the Houston Texans offensive coordinator. He returns to coaching with this gig and hopefully has a renewed energy to help get this turned back around. It’s very likely Locksley himself will continue to give his influence in how things are running on this side of the ball.
Ted Monachino will take over the defense after Brian Williams left the position to take the same role at group of five Jacksonville State. That was a bit of a surprising move, but it opened the door for Monachino, who has a long resume that includes time as an NFL coordinator for the Colts back in 2016-17. Most recently, he rose the ranks under Mack Brown at North Carolina, where he served as defensive line coach for the Tar Heels. He also had an extended run with the Baltimore Ravens as outside linebackers coach from 2010-15.
Locksley identified he needs a new special teams leader too as he shifts that responsibility off of James Thomas Jr. and moves him to focus on the safeties. Thomas Jr. coached the outside linebackers as well in 2024. He brings in another veteran coach in Andre Powell, who spend 2024 as East Carolina’s special teams coordinator, but spend the nine seasons as Pittsburgh’s running backs coach/special teams coordinator.
The move of Thomas Jr. to safeties coach forced the move of Zac Spavital to work with the inside linebackers.
They bring in another veteran in Hal Hunter to help with the offensive tackles and tight ends. Hunter was was last seen in 2022 as assistant offensive line coach for the Houston Texans and has a relationship with Hamilton.
They are moving Latrell Scott from running backs coach to work with the wide receivers and promoting Louis Swaba from his role as an offensive quality control specialist.

Note: This is a “dynamic” article; meaning we will update any information that comes in this “off-season” and post a note when impactful moves are made or news breaks.

|||||| 2024 SCHEDULE / RESULTS ANALYSIS

Going 4-8 is not going to be acceptable at Maryland, but this is also just a mean schedule. They played the 21st toughest slate according to our SOS+ metric and, yes, they lost the last five games and seven of the last eight, but it isn’t all that surprising. That opening week blowout over UConn is the most surprising result of the season, followed closely by the one-point upset over USC, who had to travel cross-country for that one. The Huskies ended up posting a really good season. They fell to Michigan State by three at home in week two and then won their next two to get to 3-1. Then the losing started and kept on coming. Our ‘deserved Wins’ (dWIN) metric says that they really were closer to a 3-win team. Their -99 weighted spread number shows that they underperformed, especially down the stretch when the wheels fell off, losing games by wide margins.

||||||| POSITION GROUP CHECK-INS

OFFENSE: Josh Gattis struggled with this offense over the past two seasons. They ran at a fast pace (24.3 seconds/play, ranked 10th in FBS)) and threw it a lot (66.7% pass rate; 7th). The problem is that the offensive line was just plain not up to the task, especially when it came to pass blocking. Opposing defenses consistently attacked the undermanned left side of the line and caused problems. Quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. is an exciting player, a great athlete, but he was at a loss trying to make this work. They abandoned the run because it wasn’t working and they found themselves down in so many games. They managed just a 3.58 yards per carry mark (110th), again, against some really tough defenses. Sure, they compiled passing numbers, getting to 275 yards per game (17th) but that was simply volume. They were not efficient — just 6.7 yards per pass — nor explosive in that passing game. It all starts up front and if this is going to get turned around, they need to get that offensive line figured out. Locksley parted ways with Gattis and Edwards transferred out to Wisconsin. They bring in veteran play caller Pep Hamilton to get this ship righted. It will take a lot.

||| QB

Billy Edwards Jr. held this job for most of the season before injuries befell him towards the end. He struggled to find much consistency despite showing signs of brilliance. The odds were stacked against him as the Terps were one-dimensional and playing quite the tough slate. He hits the portal, as do his primary backups, leaving this roster devoid of experienced signal-callers. They bring in former 4-star recruit (class of ‘22) Justyn Martin from UCLA and as of now it appears he is the guy for 2025.

||| RB

Roman Hemby was a trooper here for the past three seasons with the help up front deteriorating each season. He’s headed out to Indiana to finish up his college career. It’s okay as this unit has an up-and-comer that many are excited about in Nolan Ray, a redshirt freshman who played second-fiddle to Hemby and averaged 5.0 yards per carry. He will take on the lead role in place of Hemby and as of now, his backups will be in-house, will-be redshirt freshmen DeJuan Williams and Josiah McLaurin.

||| WR

Tai Felton was really good here and got plenty of volume headed his way in a pass-heavy offense. He surpassed the 1,100-yard mark. Kaden Prather was No. 2, heading to the next level in 2025. Octavian Smith Jr. will be asked to step up into a larger role. He’s more of a possession guy, and they hit the portal for high-upside plays in Jalil Farooq (Oklahoma), who just needs to stay healthy, and Kaleb Webb (Tennessee), who just needs to see the field. It will be tough to match the production at the top here.

||| TE

Both Dylan Wade and Preston Howard contributed quite a bit to this offense. Wade led as a solid receiver, hauling in 29 passes and showed well in pass protection. Howard was on the field as much and was more consistent in the run-blocking area, hauling in 24-of-28 targets. Both transfer out, as does Leron Husbands, who didn’t see the field much. They bring in Dorian Fleming from Georgia State, who caught 50 passes in ‘24. He’ll team up with returning Leon Haughton Jr. and they could match this production.

||| OL

Aye. This was rough. The left side of this line struggled mightily, with both Andre Roye Jr. and Isaac Bunyun getting primary playing time and posting less than replacement-level ratings. Roye grades out particularly badly. They are moving on, along with a decent center in Josh Kaltenberger. This needs a re-build. They bring in Jayvin James from Akron, who can likely play at this level but will need a lot more. They are getting a big recruit in here as Jaylen Gilchrist signs on in the ‘25 class but can’t be expected to play right away in the Big Ten. We’ll be watching this closely.

DEFENSE: Brian Williams’ unit was impressive considering the circumstances of a struggling offense and playing a tough slate of offenses. They didn’t do a whole lot incredibly well, but held them down enough to keep this from being any worse. They made it tough sledding for the rushing attacks, limiting them to 3.84 yards/carry (ranked 42nd in FBS), which is respectable - again, considering the level of competition. They were a bit more susceptible against the passing game, finishing 85th with a 7.5 yards/attempt metric. They did limit big plays for the most part, allowing 37 “explosives” (plays over 30 yards); though 17 of them were 40+ in variety. Williams left to take the Jacksonville State defensive coordinator job — which leaves some questions, but Locksley turns the page and goes to another veteran coach with NFL experience with Ted Monachino coming in from his most recent post at North Carolina as defensive line coach. He’ll need to take a similar approach to keep this unit playing a high level to support the offensive rebuild.

||| DL

This rotation didn’t go very deep, but was headlined by two next-level talents in Tommy Akingbesote and Jordan Phillips. They will also lose Quashon Fuller and Taizse Johnson to graduation. That leaves some inexperience to jump into big roles. They bring in two decent ones from the portal with Eyan Thomas (FCS-St. Francis PA) and they will ask DD Holmes to live up to that 4-star potential he earned as a Florida State recruit just last year. Expect a step back here.

||| LB

This was a strong rotation that didn’t rely on one guy too much. Ruben Hyppolite II, Caleb Wheatland and Kellan Wyatt were the primary starters/contributors and Donnell Brown chipped in. They lose Hyppolite II and Brown to graduation, but return plenty of talent and there is an exciting one coming up as DJ Samuels showed very well in limited opportunities. They should be just fine here, if not improved.

||| DB

This group had a lot of talent, headlined by S Dante Trader Jr. who is heading to the NFL next year. Glendon Miller was another very good safety and will likely play on Sundays. They are losing a lot of depth from this unit to transfers — seven, in fact, are leaving the program. They bring in Dontay Joyner from Arkansas State and he’ll step into a key role at corner back. Jamare Glasker from Wake Forest is another solid player to slide in. As of now, it appears like a drop off is in store here.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Place kicker Jack Howes was decent, going 11/16 on field goals, with three of his misses from 50+ yards. Punter Bryce McFerson was also serviceable. Both will return. The returners were nothing special as Braeden Wisloski and Tai Felton split opportunities at punt returner. They will need a step up in the special teams unit and hope that veteran coach Andre Powell can bring out the best in them, as he comes in from East Carolina.

Reader feedback is requested and encouraged! Who knows these teams better than their passionate fan bases? We don’t pretend to know it all and would love your feedback. We will update/edit based (and credit) for anything that is brought to our attention. Let’s do this together…

|||||| TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER

This is not looking good. The only proven, notable transfer-in is CB Dontay Joyner mentioned in the defensive backs section. He’s going to step right in and be an impact player. They do have some high-upside players coming in that may just need that opportunity. In the case of Oklahoma WR transfer Jalil Farooq, he just needs a combination of health and opportunity. QB Justyn Martin is coming in from UCLA and was highly touted as a recruit, got a little seasoning in 2024 and now they will ask a lot of him. The losses are numerous and more impactful, headlined by QB Billy Edwards Jr. and RB Roman Hemby moving on.

Below is a screen shot of the full, live Transfer Portal Tracker over at CFBDepth.com. Click the image or the button below to view it in its entirety…

Live Maryland Portal Tracker >

|||||| 2025 RECRUITING CLASS

Locksley has always been a good recruiter going back to his time at Alabama. He has landed over-achieving classes a few years now. This year, they are particularly focused on offense, landing QB Malik Washington, an in-state kid they were not letting get away. They have a couple of highly-touted runners coming in as well with Zymear Smith and Iverson Howard both local kids as well. They are also loading up on the defensive line with eight coming in for this 2025 class. Eventually, these highly-rated classes need to come together and produce on the field.

Here is a snapshot of the 2025 Recruiting Class+ with a link to the live page with updates throughout the cycle:

2025 Maryland Recruiting Class+ >

|||||| 2025 SCHEDULE LOOK AHEAD

This is really good timing for this lighter Big Ten slate. They avoid Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon. They do have to travel cross-country to UCLA, which will be tough — but overall you can’t complain. They get two of the tougher opponents at home with Indiana and Michigan coming to College Park. They will need to win the close ones and could wind up posting a higher number than may be deserved.

There is a lot of movement and decisions to be made throughout the off-season, including more portal moves, winter workouts and spring ball. Get all caught up with the full-on State of the Chart Magazine coming in July. If you missed the ad before, get more information and give us your e-mail to stay in the loop on everything SOTC!

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