Maryland is set to begin fall camp on Wednesday, August 3 with the season roughly five weeks away. Offensive coordinators Dan Enos and Mike Miller welcome back all five starting offensive linemen from one season ago along with veteran quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa and with a deep, veteran-heavy receiver room, a pair of Terps found themselves inside the top 25 wide receivers nationally.
In a list of the nation's top 25 wide receivers for the 2022 season, senior receiver Dontay Demus checked in at 14th while Rakim Jarrett was slotted two spots behind him at 16th according to Pro Football Focus.
Demus, a former three-star prospect out of Friendship (DC), saw his 2021 season cut short during the second quarter of the Iowa game but still sits second in program history in career 100-yard games (7), sixth in career touchdowns (13), eighth in career yards (1,775) and 12th in career receptions (106). The senior receiver is battling back from his injuries but has been able to get back onto the practice field ahead of fall camp as Maryland remains cautious with his rehab. The three-time honorable mention All-Big Ten wideout has started in his last 22 games he's been made available in College Park. Demus landed in the biggest projection category in PFF’s list.
“Demus is only listed as a projection because he is coming off a major knee injury. When healthy, there’s no denying he is one of the best in the nation. Demus was on his way to star status last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 5, as the 6-foot-3, 217-pound receiver tallied 3.36 yards per route run and a 146.5 passer rating when targeted in 2021 before that injury. He shined a deep threat, ranking in the top-10 nationally in 20-plus yard receptions (seven) and yards (279) through Week 5. Demus also averaged 9.9 yards after the catch and broke seven tackles from his 28 receptions for the year.”
Jarrett, a former four-star prospect out of St. John’s (DC), was named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List earlier this month and finished top ten in the conference in every receiving category last fall and has played in all 17 games during his two seasons in College Park. He enters the 2022 season with 1,081 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 79 catches in his career and tied Stefon Diggs’s single-season mark with 62 catches last fall to lead the team. Jarrett’s time as the feature wideout after Demus suffered his season-ending injury bolsters Maryland’s receiving room with multiple established skill players leading the 2022 offense.
After setting the single-season record for passing yards (3,860), completions (328), completion percentage (69.2%) and tying Scott Milanovich for the touchdown record (26), Maryland head coach Mike Locksley knows he has an experienced quarterback leading the 2022 offense. “I've said and I'll continue to pound the drum, he's one of the better quarterbacks in our league, if not in the country,” he said last week. “Nobody had more of a greater impact than a quarterback here in Taulia.”
Demus, Jarrett and new Maryland receiver Jacob Copeland also all made The Athletic’s 2023 NFL Draft wide receiver rankings earlier this month with Demus checking in as the sixth-best senior receiver, Copeland as the 14th-best senior receiver and Jarrett as the 7th-best underclassmen wide receiver. Copeland led the Gators in every receiving category last fall after finishing with 41 receptions for 642 yards and four touchdowns, ranking inside the top 20 in the SEC and all receiving categories and third in the SEC in yards per reception (15.7).
Maryland is set to take the podium at Big Ten media days beginning Tuesday with head coach Mike Locksley taking the stage at 11:15 AM. Locksley will also appear on the Big Ten Network studio at 1:45 PM with cornerback Jakorian Bennett, Jarrett and Tagovailoa appearing on the Big Ten Network at 4:15 PM.
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