Eric Roca looks to add depth at TE for Maryland football

Maryland's football season starts in 64 days. Until then, we're doing a player-by-player preview of the entire roster.

Eric Roca, tight end

Year: Senior
Height: 6’3
Weight: 230 lbs.
High school: St. John's (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Jersey number: 89

How he got to College Park

Roca came to the Terps from Puerto Rico, and played four sports in high school. In addition to football, he was a sprinter, played goalkeeper for his indoor soccer team and played center in basketball for St. John's High School. He joined Maryland as a walk-on in 2013, and earned several scout team player of the week awards in his three seasons with the program.

He hasn’t registered any stats yet, which isn’t surprising given his status as a walk-on and the fact that Maryland hasn’t done much with its tight ends in recent years.

A career highlight so far

Being named special teams scout team player of the week before his first game with the program against Old Dominion in 2013.

2016 prospectus

Roca’s chances to carve out a role other than "practice-squad player" don’t look very high. Maryland hasn’t focused on tight end in the past, and Roca will probably be the No. 5 or 6 tight end on the depth chart. He’ll stick to his role as a practice player, which will still be valuable to the team.

What a dream season would look like

Roca does yeoman’s work in practice all season makes enough of an impact on new coach DJ Durkin that he gets some snaps on senior day against Rutgers.

Next in the series...

Our next subject is another tight end who has two sisters who are competitive gymnasts.

Standings

Testudbro-5
PeachesTerp-5
apgibson24-3
jayman88-2
terpcommenter-2
jgoldy17-2
amaymom27- 2
ezra2141-1
Mr. Papageorgeo-1
RedTurtle-1
Carolina-1
reborn579-2

PMatt-1
Scaletta- 1

ImFromMarylandAndNobodyCanBeatMe- 2