"Iron sharpens iron" as Malik Washington looks to leave his mark on Maryland football's quarterback room

Ahmed Ghafir
Apr 9
5 min read

For the second time in as many seasons, head coach Mike Locksley is tasked with identifying his starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 season. But he and his coaching are far from zeroing in on a starter, sticking to Locksley’s traditional fall timeline with no announcement expected until fans see who trots out on the field vs. FAU on August 31.

“Quarterback's job to move the ball down the field, matriculate it down the field and end with points or end punting the ball,” Locksley told reporters following the seventh practice of spring ball. “We don't want drives to end in turnovers. I'm okay with the ending in punts. I like to see us be scoring points, whether it's field goals or touchdowns. We keep the metrics of it.”

Maryland dipped back into the transfer portal this offseason to add a veteran piece in former UCLA QB Justyn Martin, while Virginia native Khristian Martin returned to the program for his second season. And then there’s the newcomer: Malik Washington.

After resetting the MIAA record book at his position, Washington then made history after becoming the first at Archbishop Spalding to enroll in college early.

“It’s a lot of stuff you got to try to deal with in a short amount of time if you come to summer, trying to get trying to get game prepped and things like that,” Washington said. “So just getting here early allowed me to kind of prepare and make my mistakes pretty early. So that way, when it comes down to crush time, those mistakes aren’t being made.”

The shift gave him a chance at ultimately becoming Maryland’s starting quarterback in year one with new UCLA QB Justyn Martin, Washington and Khristian Martin entrenched among the first three units through the first seven spring practices. But while Locksley has been transparent that the current roster is far from the roster he expects to be available for week one, Maryland knows they have a young difference-maker capable of taking over the quarterback room. That set the stage for the former top-100 prospect became the first freshman of the Locksley era made available to media, a testament to the buzz around the former Spalding star.

“This is part of me changing and evolving,” Locksley said about the policy change.

Making Making Washington the first freshman available was also intentional.

“To me, there's an opportunity for me to open a door for you guys to see a small snapshot of what Malik Washington can be and who he has become for us as a young quarterback that's vying to try to have an impact on this team during the 2025 season,” Locksley added.

Washington was among ten early enrollees to arrive in College Park back in January, but once offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton on campus and announced as the program’s newest head coach, the top-100 signee began his transition in College Park.

“Once coach Pep came in, I got straight to talking to talking to him,” Washington said. “He makes it really easy for us to understand his quarterbacks. Like the offense is very quarterback friendly, so it allows me to go to my reads, my progression’s pretty fast and play fast.”

Having Pep Hamilton in the building at seemingly all hours of the day has helped ease that transition.

“Really just the way he attacks his job. He loves it,” Washington said of his offensive coordinator. “Like he's he lives, breathes and eats football. And I appreciate that, because he loves his job so much. He puts that care right into us as players. So I just appreciate how hard he works.”

Washington noted that the speed of the game “hasn’t been too difficult”, though it helps when he’s as much of a threat on the ground as he is through the air.

“It’s definitely faster. Everybody in college is a good player. Everybody that's here was one of the best players at their high school. So, you go against guys in high school who may not be the best, but you come here, you’re playing against the best of the best,” he said.

Still, Washington has had his star moments at points through the spring with the dual-threat quarterback taking in the playbook.

“He's really good at feeling where the pressure is coming from,” DL Dillan Fontus said about Washington. “Not only that, he's an explosive player. So he'll be looking on one side of the field and then zips the ball to other side. He's very aware for the no experience, like he doesn't have much experience on a college field yet, but he has a lot of ball under his belt.”

But while Maryland remains patient at the position, Locksley recapped where his quarterback room stands midway through spring ball with Washington adjusting to college.

“Just the speed of it, slowing down for them. To see the speed of the game and the timing, it's a little different. He's dealing with a different kind of pass rusher, a different kind of corner, windows become tighter where accuracy becomes critical, but he's been prepared for those. I think, between him and Justin and [Khristian Martin] and Champ [Long], all those guys have really benefited from having Pep Hamilton in that quarterback room and bringing them along. My background with freshman quarterbacks in college and Pep’s background with rookie quarterbacks in the NFL, whether it was Andrew Luck, Justin Herbert, have a pretty good system for bringing young quarterbacks along. I’ve been really pleased with the way Pep, Eric Najarian, those guys that work with our quarterbacks, they've done a great job of having those guys prepared.”

And to Washington, whether he ultimately wins the starting job or stays patient to wait his eventual turn, the Terps’ new quarterback knows that “iron sharpens iron.”

“We got a vet guy in Justyn Martin and Khristian [Martin], who was here last year. Same thing with Champ [Long]. Those guys just helped me with the speed of the game and being able to understand and process stuff faster also kind of showed me how to work off the field, ways to read the script, look over to playbook, ways to study, stuff like that that they helped me with so much.”

While Washington takes care of the football side, he’s made sure to enjoy the fine dining in College Park through his first three months on campus.

“Probably Little Blue Menu,” Washington said when asked about his favorite spot on campus. “I go there a lot. It's really good. Other than that, just the community that surrounding people on campus say what's up and always speaking. Everybody here is so friendly.”

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