How Justin DeVaughn juggled track and field, football as a freshman at University of Maryland

Jul 17

3 min read

Baltimore native Justin DeVaughn arrived in College Park for his official visit beginning May 29, 2024 already high on the hometown school with a chance to dive into the fit through the weekend, but that fit extended beyond football. For DeVaughn, a 5-foot-9, 166-pound wide receiver, football was where he dazzled, but it was track and field where he made a name for himself as a three-time state champion in the 110 meter hurdle, 300 meter hurdle and longjump.

While DeVaughn's official visit was spent diving into the football side, a portion was also spent with Maryland track and field head coach Andrew Valmon, who dove into what the development plan for the two-sport athlete would look like in College Park. While Minnesota and Rutgers were two others involved in DeVaughn's recruitment, that plan was more than enough that the local three-star needed to see before announcing his commitment back on June 2, 2024.

Days following the one-year anniversary of his verbal and six months after signing, DeVaughn arrived in College Park where he redshirted through his first season with football before making the transition to track and field in the spring. Yet juggling track and roster through the spring led to a strict time commitment with "no days off." With spring marking the time DeVaughn and the players "can work on your craft" for football, every morning featured a lift with the football program before alternating practice days between football and track followed by weekend meets.

“I felt like with spring ball and track, I felt like I juggled it pretty well because I wanted to make sure I was getting better on the field, but also not miss out on what I can do on the track," DeVaughn told IBG. "So I would really just try to get as much as both work I can do. Like if I had to go to track practice one day, then football practice the next day, that's what I had to do for real, and like it worked out because I seen my progression throughout the season."

Yet year one of track and field marked plenty of highs for DeVaughn, who suited up in seven outdoor events in addition to competing against his brother, Vaughn, in the 110 meter hurdles at the Big Ten Outdoor T&F Championships. His 13.47 second time may not have been enough to beat his brother, but it was enough to set the second-best all-time mark in Maryland program history as part of the four points he scored. The family affair in the sport added another storyline to his rise to stardom in the spring as DeVaughn also noted a 1.91 meters in the high jump and posted a 7.38 meters in the long jump at the Kehoe Twighlight Meet, but the chance to suit up in the Big Ten Championships proved to be the highlight.

"Definitely like an eye opener for me. Like it's my first ever college track championships. Like it’s a big meet. Like it means something. So, honestly going into that meet was like I got an opportunity to put my name on the map for real."

Yet now DeVaughn will shift focus back to football where he re-joins a wide receiver room looking to turn the page from an inconsistent 2025 season as a unit.

"It's a lot of new people and it's something that big. It's really like 50-50. You got freshmen, you got transfers, but I feel like right now, like we had a lot of weapons in our receiving core," DeVaughn added.

"I feel good coming into next season. Definitely more confidence, definitely better in skill, and more discipline. I will say that, but just looking forward to it, I'm excited for sure."

With fall camp set to kick off on Aug. 5, DeVaughn has his eyes set on proving himself as a rotational piece.

“This is really like time where you can work on your craft for real. Like we got fall camp coming up, but like spring ball, you work your craft. I feel like throughout the like spring ball, I'm just getting better because I'm just working and working every day for real. And on the track standpoint, like I felt like it gave me more confidence going into football because I ended off track on a good note. Like I'm coming off of Big Ten championships, and I score there. So after that is back football. So I'm having confidence going into the season. I feel like this it carries me through, carries me through like helping me out going to the next thing.”

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