Maryland football seniors reflect on their careers with Terps’ season over

Maryland football’s season is over, and so are the careers of the Terps’ nearly two dozen seniors. The group went out quietly with a 38-3 loss to Penn State, but had its share of highlights through four (in some cases five, in one case six) years of adversity.

Running back Ty Johnson, whose college career ended on a low note as he missed three of the Terps’ last four games with injuries, poured his emotions out on Twitter Sunday. Johnson finished his career with 4,158 all-purpose yards, third in Maryland history behind Torrey Smith and LaMont Jordan. He’s also fourth on the school’s all-time rushing list, totaling 2,597 on 7.6 yards per carry.

Tre Watson also shared his thoughts Sunday. The grad transfer from Illinois was called for targeting against Penn State, his third such ejection this season. But Watson will be better remembered as Maryland’s best defensive player this fall. He posted 108 total tackles and hauled in five interceptions, the most in the Big Ten and third-most in the country. The Terps brought Watson in for veteran leadership at a young position, but he provided so much more.

Thirteen of Maryland’s listed starters for the Penn State game were seniors, and that number doesn’t even include Johnson. This team’s experience can be overlooked due to the level of offensive production over the last few games came from underclassmen. Leading rusher Anthony McFarland was a redshirt freshman, true freshman wideouts accounted for the majority of the receiving yardage in the final weeks and every quarterback on the roster has multiple years of eligibility remaining. However, the Terps will be replacing the majority of their offensive and defensive lines, as well as seeking replacements for stalwarts like Watson and Darnell Savage.

Next year’s Maryland team will look quite different, regardless of what happens with the coaching search. A handful of the graduating seniors could be playing on Sundays next fall, but all will remember the ups and downs of their time in College Park.

In other news

The men’s basketball team is 6-0 after throttling Marshall on Friday night. That performance showed what the Terps can potentially be, and we’ve got the highlights in still form here and in video form below.

Women’s basketball went 2-0 in Puerto Rico, but not without drama. After pulling away from Morgan State on Friday, the No. 7 Terps struggled offensively in a close win over Georgia one day later.

For the second straight year, Maryland volleyball will miss the NCAA Tournament after a productive season. Earlier in the weekend, the Terps beat Iowa and lost to Nebraska on the road.

In better news, though, Sasho Cirovski’s men’s soccer team is on to the Elite Eight after knocking off Duke in Durham.

Wrestling redshirt freshman Hunter Baxter took home first place in the 149-pound weight class at the Mat Town Invitational.

And here’s Wesley Brown’s recap of the field hockey season, in which Maryland went 22-3 but ended its season with a loss in the title game again.