ESPN still bearish on Maryland football following spring football

Ahmed Ghafir
20 hours ago
2 min read

With spring ball officially in the rear view mirror, ESPN dove into how the Big Ten stacks up with Maryland ranked 15th, ahead of only Rutgers, Purdue and Michigan State.

ESPN pointed to a trio of portal additions who will play impact role in 2026 in wide receivers Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding and Chris Durr Jr., who joins Kaleb Webb atop the wide receiver room, along with cornerback Amari Jackson.

Jackson, a Boston College transfer who arrives with one year of eligibility remaining, arrived where he's lived up to expectation as an impact addition, giving Maryland a chance at producing three NFL cornerbacks from the 2026 room as Jackson pairs with Dontay Joyner and Jamare Glasker. The trio give confidence to the top of the room while assistant Aazaar Abdul-Rahim looks to develop the depth after both Darrell Carey and Hakim Satterwhite flashed through spring ball, while rangy, athletic defensive back Zahir Cobb enrolls in June.

Yet ESPN also highlighted the depth lost this offseason after Braydon Lee, La'Khi Roland and 'Kerm' Humes all departed and finalized transfers at other Power Four schools in 2026, magnifying the need for Maryland to establish depth ahead of the Sept. 5 season opener vs. Hampton.

Gladding and Durr arrive with a chip on their shoulder with buzz that Durr could be the most electric in the 2026 room and challenge the roster as the fastest player, yet their efficiency that they showed while at Old Dominion and Wyoming is the cause for confidence ahead of 2026.

While ESPN claimed the portal haul lacked the "big names or surefire starters," what they did correctly identify was the retention efforts that drove the offseason ahead of year eight for head coach Mike Locksley.

Veteran linebacker Daniel Wingate and quarterback Malik Washington were among the several impact players who finalized their decisions early in the offseason, despite Wingate being the last to be announced by the program, while they join Zahir Mathis, Sidney Stewart, Dorian Fleming and Messiah Delhomme among the several freshmen set to become key pieces of the 2026 identity.

Maryland will look to outperform preseason expectations with sportsbooks pointing to a 4.5 win total in their preseason betting odds, while College Football News pointed to 5.5. Of course, all the focus will be on whether Maryland can make the postseason a reality for the first time since 2023.

"For the last two years, I've had to do a lot of talking, because we've had a young team that really is inexperienced, that didn't have any body of work. And so as the leader, I had to sell them," Locksley said after the Spring Showcase. "Well, this team is no longer freshmen and sophomores. They're now sophomores and juniors, and that means it's about them. And for me, I'm gonna do a lot less talking up here. You guys have written your stories."

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