With fall camp underway, two more Maryland football veterans were selected to preseason watch lists this week.
Wide receiver and punt returner Jeshaun Jones was named to the Paul Hornung Award Watch List, an annual award given to the most versatile player in college football.
This marks the second time that Jones has been named to the watch list, appearing back in 2021. Jones was also previously named to the Paul Hornung Award Weekly Honor Roll in 2018 following his three-touchdown performance against Texas in his first career game.
“When you’ve got a guy that’s played a ton of football, veteran player. He’s been through the ups and downs. He knows how to bring along the younger players. Obviously from a dependability standpoint, we look at his skill set. He’s a very dependable, athletic receiver.”
Jones led Maryland in receptions (44), receiving yards (557) and receiving touchdowns (4) last season and was a key offseason priority after head coach Mike Locksley made it clear he wanted him back for a sixth season.
“My brothers, the team, Lia and me getting another degree, which was huge,” Jones said ahead of fall camp. “Those factors were huge. They played a big role in it. It’s just, I love this team. I love the brotherhood and the culture we’ve created. It’s like, why built it up to leave?”
Punter Colton Spangler was also named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List on Wednesday, the second consecutive season that Spangler has been selected to the award honoring the nation’s top punter.
After taking all but five punts during the 2022 season with Anthony Pecorella in the room, Spangler takes over as Maryland’s full-time punter for the 2023 season. Spangler’s yard per punt average ranked 16th nationally in 2022 and he currently ranks third all-time at Maryland in punting average for his career (43.0 yards per punt).
“Colton Spangler is a guy that we have a lot of respect for,” Locksley said. “He shared the position for two years. Last year kind of took it over full-time, even though we used Pecorella in some areas where he was great at pinning people down in there, but really excited about having a veteran punter like Colton. And then his athleticism. That’s the one thing, when you got an athlete in that position and I don’t feel like we’ve maybe done enough of attacking people in the special teams game in terms of fakes and things. But a former, athlete receiver, quarterback type guy but he’s really done a nice job punting.”
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