2023 Outlook for Maryland Football

March 22, 2023 by Staff

The 2022 edition of the Maryland Terrapins became the school's first back-to-back bowl eligible teams since 2013-2014 and certainly helped elevate Mike Locksley's status as the head coach.

Maryland closed out an 8-5 campaign with a 16-12 win over former ACC rival N.C. State in the Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte. The last meeting between the teams was won by Maryland in 2013 before the Terps joined the Big Ten the next year.

Maryland's 8-5 record was its best since Ralph Friedgen's final season in 2010, after which he was fired.

The game itself was close, but largely forgettable as the teams combined to score 7 field goals and 1 touchdown.

At most sportsbooks, the Terps are +25000 to win the national title next season. Maryland is one of many states where the top online sportsbooks in the country are live for betting. Maryland Sportsbook can help you wade through the choices.

Maryland in the NFL draft

Maryland Pro Day will be held March 29th, primarily to showcase cornerback Deonte Banks. He is projected as the 42nd player to be taken in the NFL Draft.

This year's draft will take place April 27-30 in Kansas City.

Among those scheduled to join Banks are offensive tackle Jaelyn Duncan, wide receiver Rakim Jarrett, and kicker Chad Ryland.

Banks, a Baltimore native, received a NextGen Stats score of 87 at the NFL combine and was ranked as the top player at his position in athleticism, but No. 4 cornerback overall. The best Prospect Grade one can receive is an 8 while anything below 5.8 lands a player off the serious list for consideration as eventual NFL material. Banks' prospect grade was 6.37 which projects him as an 'eventual starter'.

Duncan, who started playing football at 14, received the 10th-best grade over-all among offensive tackles. The Maryland native from New Carrollton received a prospect grade of 6.00 which is good enough to have NFL teams give a look in late rounds or sign as a rookie free agent after the draft.

Jarrett, who played as a slot receiver with the Terps, only scored a 5.67 and ranked 25th among all wide receivers.

As for Ryland, it didn't hurt that he made all 3 field goal attempts in the win over NCSU in the Duke's Mayo Bowl and finished 9-for-9 inside 40 yards while going 19-for-23 overall. In September, he hit from 52 and 53 at Michigan. Still, he is not likely to be drafted, but could get a few invites when the draft is over.

Spring Outlook

Maryland had a decent year on the recruiting trail, landing at No. 36 over-all at 247sports and 6th among the 14 B1G schools. The class featured 4 four-star prospects and twenty-one 3-stars among the 25 total commits. The Terps picked up five more 4-star players from the transfer portal.

One player who is especially noteworthy among the transfers is wide receiver Tyrese Chambers who is a Baltimore, Maryland kid who returns home from FIU where he totaled 96 receptions for 1,618 yards and 13 touchdowns over two seasons. In 2021, he set season records for receiving yards (1,074) & touchdown receptions (9) (2021).

Maryland ranks just 10th in the B1G in returning production, according to analytics devised by ESPN's resident expert Bill Connelly. It takes into account returning production, including yards, snaps, tackles and other such stats across various position groups. Connelly's numbers have the Terps returning just under two-thirds of their production on both sides of the ball.

Taulia Tagovailoa

Tops among the returnees is quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa who holds all of the following school records:
Career Passing Yards (7,879)
Single Season Passing Yards (3,860 in 2021)
Career Completions (665)
Single Season Completions (328 in 2021)
Career Completion Percentage (67.4%)
Single Season Completion Percentage (69.2% in 2021)
Career Passing Touchdowns (51)
Single Season Touchdowns (26 in 2021, Tied with Scott Milanovich (1993))
Career 300-Yard Passing Games (12)
Single Season 300-Yard Passing Games (7 in 2021)
Career Total Offense (8,067)

Schedule

Maryland will begin spring practice on March 28th and hold its spring game on April 29th.

 Review

To recap, these are the important dates coming up for Maryland football in 2023:

March 28: Spring football begins
April 27-30: NFL Draft
April 29: Spring game concludes spring practice
September 2: 2023 Season begins