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Pair of veterans to miss remainder of 2021 season

Writer's picture: Ahmed GhafirAhmed Ghafir

Maryland head coach Mike Locksley announced that both wide receiver Jeshaun Jones and linebacker Durell Nchami will undergo season-ending surgeries as the injury bug hits the Terps yet again. “We’ll be without Jeshaun Jones with a lower leg injury that will require season-ending surgery as well as Durell Nchami,” Locksley said. “Nchami had upper body surgery.”


The injury to Jones marks the second Terps’ receiver to undergo season-ending surgery, just weeks after the offense lost star wide receiver Dontay Demus. Jones registered 18 catches for 224 yards this season as he was tabbed as one Terp who could capitalize on Demus’ absence, but those plans were derailed after he went down on the second play of the Ohio State loss. Now, Jones will look to make a second comeback from a season-ending injury during his Maryland career. The former three-star prospect kicked off his career in style after recording a rushing, receiving, and passing touchdowns on his first three career touches in the 2018 win over Texas and went on on to appear in all 12 games his freshman season, including two starts. Jones missed the 2019 season due to a torn ACL suffered in preseason practice, but returned last fall and appeared in all but one game, totaling 11 receptions for 181 yards and one touchdown. The length and control that Jones plays with helped mitigate the season-ending loss of Demus, but now, it’s back to the drawing board for an uncertain receiver room.


The unexpected news to Nchami thins out the Terps’ linebacker room once more as Lawtez Rogers and Deshawn Holt step in to mitigate the void. Heralded freshman Demeioun “Chop” Robinson has maximized his situational reps through the first half of the season but will be leaned on, along with Frankie Burgess, to round out the rotation. Locksley did offer a glimmer of good news when he added that “we do think we’ll be able to have Branden Jennings back” ahead of this weekend’s game. But for Nchami, it marks the second time that the former Paint Branch star will come back from major surgery.


Nchami missed the 2019 season with a torn ACL and bounced back to appear in three games last fall, including two starts. Nchami was named the PFF national defensive player of the year after posting four tackles, two sacks and two forced fumbles in the season-ending loss to Rutgers. Nchami finished the 2021 season with nine tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble and one quarterback hit.


While the Terps will be without two key contributors, Maryland remains hopeful to get both Kenny Bennett and Jakorian Bennett back when Maryland takes on Minnesota. “I do think we’ll be able to have Branden Jennings back, very hopeful to have Jakorian Bennett and Kenny Bennett in the secondary,” Locksley added. The return of both veterans in the secondary adds confidence that the Terps can slow down veteran Gophers quarterback Tanner Morgan with receiver Chris Autman-Bell at his disposal.


“On offense, the quarterback is who makes them go,” Locksley said of the Gophers on Tuesday. “Tanner Morgan seems like he'd been there for a long, long time. Number seven, Autman-Bell is a big-time weapon, makes contested catches. Has kind of been their number two guy this year, has really stepped up to be a number one receiver.” Maryland will look to absorb both the good and bad injury news as they seek their fifth win of the season, just one shy of a bowl game.


“As I told our team, we sit here 4-2 and if somebody told us at the beginning of the year, that we'd have a chance to be 4-2 at the halfway point, I think every one of us would be pretty happy with it,” Locksley said. “Obviously, you know, being able to get some guys back from injury, we're hoping that we can again start this second half of the season the right way. I feel our best football is still ahead of us and we've got a lot of work to do, but I’ve been really encouraged by this team and the way we've practiced and the way they've played to the standard for the most part.”


Kickoff is set for 3:30 PM EST on Saturday.


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