Where Maryland QB Malik Washington stacks up within the Big Ten

Ahmed Ghafir
23 minutes ago
2 min read

For the first time in three seasons, Maryland football will enter fall camp with no quarterback controversy with Malik Washington ready to build on a true freshman season that ended in 12 starts and several accolades. But where does Washington stack up in the Big Ten?

On3 tabbed the 6-foot-5 signal caller as the eighth-best quarterback in the conference ahead of 2026, one spot behind Michigan's Bryce Underwood and one spot ahaead of UCLA's Nico Iamaleava.

Quarterback Dante Moore was viewed to be a top prospect if he elected to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, but he's set to return for his final season at Oregon where he led the top three alongside Ohio State's Julian Sayin and USC's Jayden Maiava. A pair of transfer portal quarterbacks in Indiana's Josh Hoover and Penn State's Rocco Becht joined Washington's Demond Williams, who became a transfer portal headline this spring before returning to the Huskies, as other quarterbacks slotted ahead of Washington. Maryland will face five of the quarterbacks ranked inside the top ten starting with Iamaleava for the Big Ten opener on Sept. 26.

While USC, Penn State and Michigan will also look to showcase similar, all eyes will be on the skill positions at Washington's disposal in 2026 after an inefficient rushing attack coupled with drops among the wide receivers proved to be too much to overcome on offense during his true freshman season. Maryland went out and added a handful of pieces in the transfer portal in Chris Durr Jr., Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding and Preston Howard alongside the returning pieces like Dorian Fleming and Kaleb Webb, but time will tell whether the preseason expectations materializes into improved production this fall.

Washington is coming off a productive spring where he's built a strong rapport with new offensive coordinator Clint Trickett, while the expected tempo and wrinkles the former Jacksonville State OC brings to Maryland could make the former four-star into a bigger weapon within the offense.

“One thing I really focused on was the mental side of the game, just understanding defenses and coverage better and how our route concepts kind of match up with those that way my pre-snap picture is a lot better,” Washington said during spring ball.

On3's rankings:

Dante Moore (Oregon)
Julian Saying (Ohio State)
Jayden Maiava (USC)
Demond Williams (Washington)
Josh Hoover (Indiana)
Rocco Becht (PSU)
Bryce Underwood (Michigan)
Malik Washington (Maryland)
Nico Iamaleava (UCLA)
Drake Lindsey (Minnesota)

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