Jalen Huskey highlights emerging linebacker at Big Ten Media Day: "This is about to be Daniel Wingate season"

Ahmed Ghafir
Jul 22
3 min read

Maryland football’s defense returns just a handful of starters in 2025 with veteran safety Jalen Huskey, one of three players who represented the program at Big Ten Media Day on Tuesday, among them. But coming off an encouraging offseason following his freshman season, inside linebacker Daniel Wingate drew snaps as a borderline starter in 2024 alongside then-fifth-year senior Ruben Hyppolite, cementing himself as a young piece in line for a bigger role as an upperclassman.

The 2025 linebacker room features several young pieces with second-year Trey Reddick stepping into an impact role as an outside linebacker while Michael Harris is expected to start alongside Wingate in 2025. After finishing third on the team in both total tackles (50) and tackles for loss (6.5), Wingate is now set to ready to anchor the unit as head coach Mike Locksley noted the “huge leadership role” he’s taken on both on and off the field heading into year three.

“A player that I'm really, really excited about. Daniel was a guy that probably wasn't as heavily recruited as his skillset has shown us to be. He was a guy last year as a true sophomore that I saw take on a huge leadership role, not just on the football field but in our locker room and has been a very productive player,” Locksley said earlier on Tuesday. “A DMV kid that made the decision to stay home, and has been key for us in us trying to build this program and put it back on track.”

His teammate agrees.

“This is about to be his coming out party. This is about to be Daniel Wingate season,” safety Jalen Huskey added.

After two seasons wearing 16, Wingate made the switch to one this summer in a number that he knows vaults him into a leadership role both on defense and in the locker room with the jersey number carrying an impact on the team. But the Pallotti product has steadily built buzz over the last 15 months that points to him capable of stepping into that elevated role. For Wingate, the jersey change came off the heels of “a great offseason that I had going into the spring.”

“For this year for me, you know, I see it as a year to elevate, like Coach locks talks about all the time. And it's really a year for me to step out and showcase the talents that I have had,” he added. “16 and one, they're the same person, so it's just a different number.”

Wingate also leads a room now coached by Zac Spavital, who moved from safeties the last two seasons, as first-year defensive coordinator Ted Monachino looks to leave his imprint on the 2025 defense.

"He's somebody that has great energy, and he brings great energy to the defense. He allows us to play hard and fast. With the play calling, he’s made it to where it's very simple for us to just go out there and run around and play fast, you know, how football is supposed to be played, and allow us to use our abilities to make plays and force turnovers."

Maryland will now look to surpass preseason expectations after being picked to finish 16th in a pair of unofficial Big Ten media rankings.

“We got a lot of young guys that are ready to hit the field and just showcase the talent that we got at Maryland. A lot of us are overlooked and not really scouted highly. So a lot of us have a chip on our shoulder and are ready to really show the world what we got,” he added.

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