Senior class looks to depart Maryland football on a high note vs. Michigan

Ahmed Ghafir
5 days ago
4 min read

Maryland football is in the midst of its longest losing streak since Mike Locksley’s first season as head coach and with one final chance to salvage bowl eligibility, Maryland is hoping to send its senior class out with its signature win with 18^th-ranked Michigan headed to College Park on Saturday. Heading into Saturday as double-digit underdogs, the senior class is looking for that statement win.

Octavian Smith scored the lone touchdown in Maryland’s last win against a ranked team, a 16-12 Mayo Bowl win vs. NC State to close the 2023 season. Fast forward to today, the former Paint Branch quarterback has a chance to become the 22^nd player in program history to record 100 career catches as he enters Saturday with 99.

“I had my senior interview [on Monday] with the media staff where I sat down. They asked me questions, showing me videos and stuff throughout my time here. It was really emotional,” Smith said ahead of his final home game.

“They say it’s going to go by fast and you hear that as a freshman and you’re like ‘yeah, yeah, okay’ but next thing you know, he asked me how it’s going to feel running out of the tunnel for the last time? That’s when it hit me because I started visualizing myself running out here for the last time. It kind of broke me down because I have so many memories and experiences here that I’ll cherish forever and something that you won’t really get back so you’ve got to cherish it while it’s here.”

After entering the season with just 23 catches through his first three seasons, WR Shaleak Knotts will depart as the likely team-leader with nearly 500 yards and five scores through the first ten games of the 2025 season. It wasn’t always certain that the former four-star out of North Carolina would end his career in College Park after playing behind others like Jeshaun Jones and Tai Felton through the years, but his story proved to be a testament to the four-year plan that has become gradually uncommon in college sports.

“I just feel like sitting behind a couple of guys that were in front of me, now, it's my time to shine,” Knotts said in September after opening the season with touchdowns in each of the first four games.

“For Punch, it's like I said, it's what I always envisioned. I would hope it would have happened a year or two earlier for him. But he has run his own race,” head coach Mike Locksley said of the senior receiver.

“I've watched Punch come stand up here in front of you guys and just blow me away. The maturity that he shows and it's a byproduct of hopefully the time that he spent here in our program, but even more testament to the resolve that that kid has.”

Smith and Knotts are two of 16 players set to honored pregame on Saturday alongside DL Sam Adu, DL Akindele Dare, WR Jalil Farooq, CB Jamare Glasker, TE Leon Haughton Jr., OL Alan Herron, SAF Jalen Huskey, QB Justyn Martin, RB Eli Mason, TE Daniel Owens, DL Cam Rice, SAF Lavain Scruggs, WR Kaleb Webb and OL Isaiah Wright.

For some like Wright and Huskey, Saturday ends a chapter of their college careers after transferring into the program from Buffalo and Bowling Green as they developed into leaders on and off the field for the offense and defense. The same could be said for Herron, who transferred from DII Shorter University to Maryland, where he and Aliou Bah enter the home finale tied for a team-high 22 consecutive starts.

For Martin, a candidate to return in 2026, the UCLA transfer played just one series and has yet to throw a pass after an injury derailed half his season before being cleared to return ahead of Illinois. But while there was a possibility the most experienced quarterback in the room ultimately won the starting job, Martin knew he was able to leave his impact on the program regardless of the stats.

“One of the things I'm most proud of here is that at the end of every practice, we get a prayer with the offense. And if I don't do anything else, if I don't throw a yard here, that's the one thing that I can say like I made an impact on this program by just bringing God into it,” he said ahead of the season. “I was really proud about that.”

But now comes the tougher part for Maryland: winning.

Maryland has yet to beat a ranked Big Ten team since joining the conference 11 years ago while the program stands just 2-10 as home underdogs since 2021. Maryland’s 1-11 all-time record against Michigan marks the second-worst among any Big Ten team, excluding zero combined wins against Ohio State, Oregon and Washington. But in the first game after athletic director Jim Smith backed Mike Locksley for another season, now comes the question as to whether Maryland can find a jolt similar to Wisconsin when they upset Wisconsin at home days after Luke Fickell was backed for another season.

Regardless of the outcome, Octavian Smith leaves College Park as confident in his head coach as the day he committed.

“When he took the job, it was a job that nobody really wanted to take because Maryland at that time was at its lowest peak,” Smith said. “Him taking the job, I feel like it speaks a lot to his character and all that he’s done for the program and all that he’s built it to where it is now to where it’s going to continue to elevate and grow to be.”

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