Maryland football WR Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding on his development, chemistry with Malik Washington, fall camp

Ahmed Ghafir
14 hours ago
3 min read

Maryland football added a pair of portal wide receivers in the spring to replenish the top of the room with former Old Dominion wide receiver Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding, also a former high school teammate of Tai Felton, part of the solution. The Stone Bridge grad and Brooklyn, NY native arrived in College Park back in January after leading ODU with 51 catches and six touchdowns in 2025 as Gladding looks to be an impact piece for a second consecutive season. Gladding talks about his development through his eight months on campus, his unit, Maryland’s growth through camp and more:

His growth from January through mid-August

“Definitely just getting more comfortable in the playbook, establishing our offense, understanding my role, understanding how I can help this team.”

His role in the WR room

“I feel like I'm definitely an impactful player, as I do feel other guys are as well. I mean, going through camp, you're getting multiple plays, multiple reps, so you get to feel out how you are in the offense and I think I definitely fit in.”

On his chemistry with QB Malik Washington

“I think it's great. We spend time outside of football. He's just not just a teammate to me is my brother as well, and that's how I feel about all my teammates.”

On the team chemistry in The Hotel

“It's definitely important because it allows us to just focus on straight football. It's definitely important, being in the hotel, being with your guys 24/7 allows you to focus on straight football. A lot of the times, especially in college football with NIL, guys get caught up in things external from what you got going on and off the field. So being able to just lock in and focus on what we got 24/7, being in football, it's a great feeling because you know you're not worried about somebody doing something they shouldn't be doing.”

On the turnover in the WR room

“100%. I mean, it's our job as receivers to make his life easier, and his job as a quarterback to make our life easier. And when we do that, everything's flowing. Chemistry is there, like I talked about before. Everything's definitely going in the right path.”

Whether that’s easy to do in the Big Ten

“We haven't played any games yet, but at the same time, I do feel like we have definitely been trending the right way [on] offense, especially through camp. Even in the spring, even in summer workouts, we've been taking steps every day to get 1% best.”

On shifting to student-life balance

“Well, this isn't my first year of college football, so you know I've kind of been in the system. I know how it is. It's just one extra thing to add to your plate. But being a college football athlete, you know, that's what it requires. So you have to handle it.”

On advice:

“Of course, time management is the biggest thing, and understand that, get it done first so you can have free time later.”

On intensity among WRs

“Definitely picked up, but our guys have been doing a great job of monitoring us and make sure we're not working ourselves overloaded, so that we're fresh for the season. They've been taking care of our bodies, and we're doing the right piece to make sure that we match the intensity to make sure we're getting the work done.”

On Messiah Delhomme’s growth

“He's definitely become a great leader, especially in our secondary. He's out there flying around, being the key piece you need as safety, especially. He's you know come down, set edges. He's gonna do what he has to do to play his part.”

Any units sticking out to Gladding

“I feel like honestly all of our groups have you know elevated, especially our corner room. We have different pieces coming in, different pieces, so I feel like we're doing good, especially receiver – all around really.”

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