Malik Washington on his redzone turnover, area of improvement for Maryland's offense in week three

Ahmed Ghafir
Sep 9
5 min read

Malik Washington is off to a strong start through two games, leading all true freshmen quarterbacks with 512 passing yards and adding five touchdowns to his resume. The former four-star has long been the source of optimism for the future of the program with his dual-threat ability providing a chance to maximize the potential of Mike Locksley’s offense.

But Washington’s first blemish of his freshman campaign came in week two after a fumble in the redzone ended a chance to push the score back to two possessions, minutes after NIU broke off a 74-yard touchdown run in what proved to be the longest play of the game.

“It was just bad ball security on my part. That's completely on me,” Washington said on Tuesday. “The guys up front did fine. The play broke down and there was a better decision to be made, which would have been just to throw the ball away. I was trying to extend the play a little bit more and it was bad ball security on my part, which is something, we’ll get corrected.”

“He had the fumble there in the red area trying to force a play, and in the red area, it's got to be touchdown, check down,” head coach Mike Locksley added. “I imagine, because of the maturity that he has, he'll put that one in his toolbox and that's where that mistake is going to be progress for him because now he'll understand exactly what we mean by touchdown, check down.”

Still, Washington came up big in a key moment facing a 4^th-and-5, connecting with WR Shaleak Knotts for a 46-yard touchdown in what proved to be the game’s final score. Washington will get one more tune-up game before kicking off Big Ten play on the road, but he knows where the offense can get better in week three against Towson.

“I think really just capitalizing on every possession. In this game, sometimes it gets hard. Those possessions become few and far in between, just with the way the game is played later in the season with a lot of teams being kind of run heavy. So time of possession goes up for each team. So just taking advantage of every possession that we get and capitalizing in the red zone.”

More from Washington:

On Towson’s defense

“They're gonna stick to their rules. They do what they do and they're very sound in what they do. So I think for them, really, it'd be about just sticking to their rules and playing the game that they play.”

On his progression from week one to week two

“Just the adjustments that we're making, coach is making it easy on us, as far as halftime adjustments and things like that, being able to adjust to how the team is playing. We might have saw a certain thing on film, but now we get out here, it's something completely different because everybody's always changing their game plan and stuff like that. So just being able to adjust at halftime and make the correct changes.”

Whether fans will see Malik run more

“Whatever coach draws up I'm good with.”

On whether he felt pressure to be ready as a true freshman

“I wouldn't say it's pressure. I think that's just kind of evolution of sports. As sports have been going on, like people have been getting better at younger ages, and being ready and being more mature just because that's the way the game evolved. So I think for us, really, it was about, even in high school, we were getting ready and getting prepared to play on this next level early, like that was all of our dreams.”

How Malik developed that mentality

“I think it's really just whoever you have around you in your circle that's preparing you for that next level, realizing that you're not preparing while you're in high school just to beat high school opponents. You're preparing to go to college and play. And then while you're in college, you're not just preparing to beat college opponents, but preparing to go to that next level.”

On ranking 12^th nationally with 78 pass attempts through two games

“Like you said, coach trusts me and I appreciate that trust so much. It gives me confidence to go out there and pray play freely because I know that coach will give me the opportunity to show what I can do.”

On the student turnout

“It's meant a whole lot. That energy that the fans bring and then the alumni and the faculty that they all bring, just it gives us a boost on the field, knowing that we have so many people behind us.”

On interactions with fans

“Yeah, just, you know, being out on campus, stuff like that. People stop, ask for a picture, things like that. Or, you know, walking to Playa Bowl, people will say something to me but it's been pretty cool so far.”

On maturity on the field looks like

“Really, just with the ebbs and flows of the game, be able to stay consistent and stay level, like keeping a level head on your shoulders. I think as a quarterback, that's a really important trait that you have to have just because at all times, most of the team, offense, defense, special teams is looking to you in those moments of like peril, anything like that. Like they're looking to you to see what you do and how you react. And if you keep it level and keep it calm, they'll react the same way.”

On Malik’s connection with TE Dorian Fleming

“He’s just a match up problem. A lot of tight ends are where, you put a smaller guy on them, they're not big enough. You put a bigger guy on them, they're not fast enough. And he's been able to showcase his playmaking ability with the ball in his hand and then also his ability to block without the ball in his hand that allows coach to trust him even more, and we can have plays designed for him and things like that, just to show what he can do with the ball.”

Assessing his first two games

“I didn't have, like, a set expectation of how it was going to be, just because I know when you kind of set a precedent for yourself, then when things don't go that way, like it can kind of mess you up mentally. So for me, really, it was just about going out there and experiencing it, and letting the game come to me.”

On the offense through the first two games

“We played really hard up front. They're battling every single play. The guys that when we get the ball in their hand, they're making plays. That's all we can ask. But really, we just keep communicating, keep executing. We'll be fine.”

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