Third Place In The ACC Isn't Bad

In a season where a very young Terrapins team took the field and was projected to win just one game—maybe two or three, if they were lucky—Maryland won its eighth game today and now prepares for a trip to a bowl game after missing the postseason last year.

Redshirt freshman Danny O’Brien has shown that he is going to be a star at quarterback for the Terrapins for the next three years, and he should have his favorite target back next season as well in Torrey Smith, as long as he doesn’t go pro.

Maryland figured to be a doormat, and their only winnable game was supposed to be Morgan State in the second week of the season.

The Terrapins managed to do much more than that: They can claim third place in the ACC, and had a shot to play Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship until the final three minutes last week against a very good Florida State team.

The Terrapins only suffered one blowout all season (their sixth game against Clemson, losing 31-7) and hung tough with teams that were far superior to them on paper. We have to wonder if O’Brien could have beaten West Virginia had he started instead of Jamarr Robinson.

The Maryland defense was quietly good this year.

The defensive line was stellar in shutting down the run for most of the year, and actually getting quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback as well. I can’t single out just one guy on the line—they all seemed to contribute equally and put in a full 60 minutes, week in and week out.

Kenny Tate and Cameron Chism will be back next year as seniors and will be the leaders of the secondary. Both guys are playmakers and will be a staple in keeping opposing offenses in check, especially against a very pass-happy Notre Dame next season.

The big losses are going to come from the linebacking corps. Alex Wujciak and Adrian Moten will be graduating. Wujciak will be playing on Sundays, and I think Moten could definitely make a roster as a special teams player, and hopefully someone will give him a chance at safety. His coverage skills really aren’t that bad, and under the right coach and in the right scheme, he could definitely be a big playmaker in the NFL. He’s just too athletic and smart to not get a chance.

All in all, the future is very bright for Maryland football. There is a very solid recruiting class coming in and Ralph Friedgen isn’t done yet. There are some guys out there like 5-star recruit and No. 2 overall OT Cyrus Kouandjio, playmaking defensive backs Geraldo Orta and Blake Countess and DT Darian Cooper, who is an absolute beast and will feast on ACC quarterbacks for a while. He reminds me a lot of a more agile Warren Sapp, and that is just scary.

We just have to sit back and wait for the bowl game to be announced, and find out who those final few recruits are going to be. If Maryland can land a few of the recruits I mentioned, we could be looking at the start of something very special over the long term in College Park.

Maryland might not just be a basketball school for very much longer.