Who’s the best return man in Maryland football history?

It’s Specialists Week at Testudo Times, and we’re winding down our summer series of polls aimed at assembling the all-time Maryland team. After looking at the kickers and punters, we’ve got almost all the spots filled, now it’s time to complete the lineup.

Here are the returner nominees for your vote:

Keeta Covington

Covington was an honorable mention in our best cornerback poll, but there’s no doubt he’s one of the best returners in Maryland history. In his three seasons in College Park, he returned the second-most kickoffs and the seventh-most punts in program history. That was good enough to leave at No. 3 in kick return yardage—he was No. 1 when he left the program in 1986—and No. 7 in career punt return yards.

Steve Suter

Suter is the only player in Terps history to crack 1,000 career punt return yards. In fact, Suter’s 1,271 career punt return yards still stands as an ACC record and is good for No. 24 in NCAA history. Suter earned a Second Team All-American nod as a returner in 2002 and still holds a number of ACC return records and is also No. 5 in career kick return yards for Maryland.

Torrey Smith

In addition to being one of the best receivers in program history, Smith has the most kick returns and career kick return yards. In his three seasons, he surpassed Covington, becoming the first Terp with over 2,000 kick return yards, and was an All-ACC receiver and returner his sophomore season. It will probably be some time before anyone cracks Smith’s record.

Stefon Diggs

One of the architects of the DMV-to-UMD movement, the local receiver product also excelled on kickoff returns. Diggs would have to refrain from returning punts as his career went on, due to his injury history, but he left College Park ranked No. 4 in career kick return yards. Diggs just beat out Suter, finishing his career with 1,472 yards in total, before heading to the NFL and occasionally returning for the Vikings.

Will Likely

Likely is perhaps the Terps’ No. 1 returner overall, landing at No. 2 in kick return yards and No. 3 in punt return yards. With players like Likely, you always have to beware of recency bias, but the numbers look like they'll support him for a while. He has over 3,000 return yards—2,233 on kickoffs and 875 on punt returns.