Wisconsin RB Dilin Jones on facing hometown Maryland: "it’s only right for me to ball out"

Ahmed Ghafir
Sep 17
3 min read

All eyes are on the status of QB Billy Edwards ahead of Saturday’s matchup between Wisconsin and Maryland with Mike Locksley indicating he’s expecting the former Terps’ starter to play, though Luke Fickell remained noncommittal in his lone pregame media appearance.

Wisconsin QB Danny O’Neil, who stepped in as the starter in each of the last two games, noted that Edwards was “obviously taking more reps” following Tuesday’s practice. “Exciting to see for him, but moving forward, I’m just still going to prepare like I’m the one and we’ll see how he is come game time,” he added.

Whether it’s Edwards or O’Neil, the Badgers haven’t faced a pair of impact pieces in the secondary with Dontay Joyner and Jamare Glasker now leading the cornerback room with depth emerging behind them in Braydon Lee and La’Khi Roland. Maryland leads the country in interceptions (7) through three weeks, highlighted by the six interceptions reeled in the week one win vs. FAU, but O’Neil noted the “super athletic” secondary the Badgers are preparing to face.

“They rely on them making big, the secondary, making big plays and causing turnovers so it’s going to be up to us to limit that and allow just to pound the rock. Really just take advantage of the shots when they present themselves. We think that we’ll be able to. It should be a good game.”

While Wisconsin looks to get the passing attack going, the rushing attack will be led by a DMV native with former Good Counsel RB Dilin Jones excited to play against the hometown school, who added he has “a couple friends coming up for the game just because we [are] playing Maryland.” Wisconsin is expected to run the ball featuring multiple options, but Jones enters Saturday's matchup leading the Badgers running backs on the ground in total yards (137) and yards per carry (4.6) while becoming one of four players with one rushing touchdown.

“[Maryland] got a kid on the team, that’s probably like my best friend. We call each other every day just talking. I’m just ready to ball out against him,” Jones said about Maryland, speaking about current Maryland DB Judah Jenkins. “It’s the hometown. I feel like I got to ball out. I know a lot of kids on the team and I feel like it’s only right for me to ball out.”

Maryland was among the top schools for Jones out of Good Counsel with a strong push to land the local product in hopes of an official visit, but those plans were derailed after the former four-star took his first and last official visit to Madison days before announcing plans to join Wisconsin's 2024 recruiting class.

Now, Maryland will to limit the local product on the ground, they’ll look to get their own local product going as QB Malik Washington looks to eclipse 250 passing yards for the fourth consecutive game. While he’s on track to become the first true freshman to start for Maryland since Tyrrell Pigrome in 2016, Washington also has a chance to become the first Maryland true freshman quarterback to win a Big Ten game as the former four-star signee builds on his gradually growing national profile.

“He’s very good for a young guy and he’s a true freshman. [He] likes the deep ball a lot so hopefully we can stop those passes and make him throw over the middle of the field, move up some plays for our guys,” safety Austin Brown said of Washington. “Hopefully [we] force them to make some checkdowns and run to the ball.”

That praise came on the same day that BTN analyst Jake Butt raved about Maryland's freshman quarterback.

"He's special. I know Bryce Underwood as a true freshman is getting a ton of the headlines but Malik deserves much more recognition than what he’s getting at this point. He’s extremely talented. He’s a big, strong kid and I like the way he’s responded to early season, early game adversity. It hasn’t been 60 minutes of perfect football for them, at times he’s looked shaky but he’s always found his way back. And he’s doing a good job of distributing the football. Right now, there’s four different guys with over ten catches on the season so he's not locking in on one specific guy. And we’ve come to expect this with coach [Mike] Locksley, they’re going to have a dominant passing game. I just think Malik is the most talented quarterback they’ve had since Locksley’s been there and that’s showing up on tape here early in the season."

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