Community outreach a continued point of emphasis for Maryland football

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 30
2 min read

Saturday marked a busy day at Deanwood Recreation Center with over 115 campers in attendance for the 22nd annual Youth Football Camp hosted by Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, who enters his third season as the co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach.

While several former Terps and current NFL players like Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Tommy Akingbesote, Miami Dolphins safety Dante Trader and new Jaguars safety Jalen Huskey were among the several to help, the coaching staff and current players also joined Abdul-Rahim to help make Saturday possible.

Safeties coach James Thomas joined offensive analyst Eric Najarian and defensive analysts Luke Butera and David Brownlee in attendance alongside Zion Elee, Daniel Wingate and Zahir Mathis among the over dozen of players.

“Just seeing the little kids, I was in their shoes a couple years ago, fighting for a spot to showcase my talents,” Elee said. “Being able to mentor, help them, it means a lot to me. I was in their position so I just feel it.”

Daniel Wingate, who was tabbed a preseason fourth team All-American ahead of his final season of college football, has made community outreach a constant through his tenure with the program with a chance to pay the area’s support back.

“Just giving back to the community, having everybody see it’s Terps supporting people no matter what. Just having the community come out to support us when it’s time to play, it’s giving back,” Wingate said. “I understand when you give back to your community, the community gives back to you so that’s something we really try to establish within the program and it’s something a lot of us endure. It’s great to be out with all the kids and give back to them, have a lot of them learn from our game.”

Community outreach has also been a key component of the program under head coach Mike Locksley whether it’s players speaking at local middle and elementary schools, partnering with the Beautiful Lives Project or others like quarterback Malik Washington and wide receiver Kaleb Webb hosting their own local camps during the summer months. Cornerback Amari Jackson and wide receiver Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding were also among the players in attendance for Stefon Diggs camp earlier in June, but Jackson made clear that his presence wasn’t tied to NIL - he wanted to be there.

The chance for players to give back to the communities that many grew up in resonates with the chance to become role models as college athletes.

“If you go back and look, we always had events where guys would go to elementary schools, do like donation events, or come out to an establishment and give out back to school bags or packages for people. We did a food donation at one point so we all went out to DC and were packing food to help people who aren’t in position to eat every day,” new Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Octavian Smith said.

“It gave me the pathway to building the connections and being around the right people.”

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