LB CJ Smith on decision to return to Maryland: "can’t find better teammates than players at Maryland"

Ahmed Ghafir
5 hours ago
3 min read

A key part of Maryland football’s offseason centered around retaining the foundation of the roster, highlighted by several portal additions following the 2024 season in addition to the freshmen class. While the steady domino of news provided a dose of positive buzz around Maryland’s ability to retain its top talent, one key piece in the linebacker room who made his decision early in the offseason linebacker Carlton “CJ” Smith. But in reality, there was never any question that year two would materialize in College Park.

“I really fell in love with the program. It’s really my teammates. They made me want to be here,” Smith said. One thing about Maryland, we just have a close bond. You can’t find better teammates than players at Maryland so it was no question for me to come back.”

But what made it special for Smith was the certainty of his decision around the same time several other key Virginia natives were already trending toward a return. Former Warwick four-star Messiah Delhomme now steps into a chance to replace Jalen Huskey after becoming a mainstay along the backline rotation, former blue-chip prospect Jaylen Gilchrist will look to make noise as a potential starting offensive lineman for the second straight offseason while tight end Dorian Fleming looks to become a staple in the offense for the second consecutive year.

“I definitely feel like it played a role, knowing they came from where I came from, it just helps me push harder, just knowing that we can make it and do big things for ourselves coming out of the 757, 804 area. I feel like it was very instrumental,” Smith added.

In 2025, Smith materialized into a key contributor in the linebacker rotation where he played in all 12 games as a true freshmen and finished tied for third on the team with 64 total tackles.

The Virginia native broke out with his first career TFL and six tackles against Towson, but it was his performance in the Big Ten home opener vs. Washington that led to growing confidence after amassing the first of two double-digit tackle games as a true freshman.

“Big game at home. I was excited. I was looking forward to playing, just looking forward to my opportunities,” Smith said. “When my time came, I took every moment to do what I had to do.”

Smith also finished with ten total tackles in the November road loss against Illinois while recording at least five tackles in five conference games, marking a season when the former three-star prospect out of Maury High School (VA) got “used to hard coaching” as he grew comfortable with Big Ten pace of play.

“I took big emphasis in that. And just having great teammates around me that I can depend on and I can look around, know that they’ve got my back. It was pretty huge for me. I really enjoyed it through the ups and downs.”

With his freshman year complete, Smith pointed back to his knowledge of the game as an area of growth ahead of year two.

“Just really my football IQ, learning the game more. One thing about the Big Ten, Power Five in general, just learning how to have good football IQ, football smartness. Know what plays they tend to run, know where people are going to line up. I feel like all of that takes time and preparation so I’ve been deep diving into that just trying to learn more about the game.”

It helps leaning on his position coaches, including current defensive assistant and former Maryland and NFL linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr.

“We’ve got one of the best strength and conditioning staffs in the country. Even my position coaches, Jeremaine Carter, coach [Zac Spavital], my head inside linebackers coach, I feel like they all come together and tell us that we’re here for y’all. I definitely rely on them,” Smith said. “They help me break down film, how to improve in my pass drops, how to stop the run. Especially with people with experience under their belt like Jermaine Carter, he came here, ended up going to the league and having a very good NFL career. I take a lot from them.”

Smith will now look to build on that experience, but he’s also part of the foundation now looking to shift from inexperienced freshmen to seasoned leaders across the roster.

“I feel like even in our first year here, we had to step up into leadership roles either vocally or doing it on the field,” he added. “Coming into this next year, of course I feel like we’ve got a lot of pride and of course we got to step into a leadership role because now we’ve got experience under our belt.”

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