Maryland football added some help to its special teams on Wednesday as Eastern Michigan transfer kicker Chad Ryland committed to the program, he announced on Twitter.
COMMITTED!!! #TBIA @CoachLocks @RonZook @RIQSHOTIT pic.twitter.com/LN4eU5Ymkd
— Chad Ryland (@C_Ryland38) February 2, 2022
Ryland, a junior out of Pennsylvania, is Eastern Michigan’s all-time PATs leader. He finished the 2021 season with 19 field goal makes on 22 total attempts, good enough for a solid 86% clip. He also showed plenty of leg a season ago going 2-for-2 on field goal attempts that were 50 yards or more.
His best game of 2021 came against Western Michigan on Nov. 16, when he made five field goals on five tries. Ryland didn’t miss a single field goal attempt in the final eight games of the season. He went a perfect 16-for-16 with field goal tries since Oct. 9.
Ryland’s commitment to the program is a big addition for head coach Michael Locksley. Senior kicker Joseph Petrino, who was the Terps’ starting kicker during the 2021 season in which they won seven games, struggled at times. He finished the year going 13-for-20 (65%) with field goals and had a season-long kick of 48 yards.
Petrino especially found difficulty finding the middle of the uprights late in the season. In the final five games of the regular season in 2021, he went 2-for-6. Petrino did bounce back in the Pinstripe Bowl, though, connecting on two field goals in the same amount of tries.
Also of note on Wednesday, Maryland welcomed offensive lineman Liridon Mujezinovic to the program. Mujezinovic is from the Netherlands and will provide another big body for Locksley in the future.