3 Maryland football players invited to NFL combine

Maryland football will have three participants in this month’s NFL combine. Defensive lineman Byron Cowart, offensive tackle Derwin Gray and safety Darnell Savage Jr. will participate in the annual event, the league announced Thursday.

The trio, along with 335 other players, will head to Indianapolis from Feb. 26-March 4 to impress NFL scouts and raise their draft stock less than two months before the Arizona Cardinals will be on the clock with the first pick on April 25.

While both Cowart and Savage participated in last month’s Senior Bowl, this is the first invite for Gray for to a postseason event. Gray, however, graded out the best of the three players on the NFL’s official site despite a rough senior season. Gray and Savage were both graded as players with a “chance to become an NFL starter,” while Cowart was listed as someone who has “NFL backup or special teams potential.”

Despite being a First Team All-Big Ten selection, linebacker Tre Watson was left off the invite list, along with running back Ty Johnson and offensive lineman Damian Prince. Watson and Johnson impressed at last month’s East-West Shrine Game, but all three will have to wait until Maryland’s pro day for the chance to impress NFL scouts.

In other news

Maryland defensive back Raymond Boone was hospitalized after a team workout Tuesday, but was released the next day.

New head coach Mike Locksley hopes a mix of national and local recruiting will “make it cool to be a Terp again.”

A strong National Signing Day and men’s basketball’s road win at Nebraska were two fun things in a busy day for Maryland sports.

The Baltimore Sun’s Don Markus has three takeaways from the Terps’ road win.

Maryland women’s basketball cruised past Northwestern Thursday night for its sixth straight win.

It was Play4Kay night at Xfinity Center, and the team’s starters were introduced with breast cancer survivors as part of the event.

After a two-year break, powerhouse UConn will be back on the Terps’ schedule, with Maryland playing on the road in 2020-21 and hosting the Huskies in 2021-22.

Patrick Stevens had a nice short story on Maryland men’s lacrosse goalie Danny Dolan in his weekly notebook for US Lacrosse Magazine.

The Terps will be hosting “Hometown Heroes Day” on Saturday at Maryland Stadium, with all military, firefighters, police officers and EMS personnel eligible to receive two complimentary tickets with their ID the day of the game.

And last, but certainly not least, here’s Jake Layman with a nice dunk off a transition alley-oop last night.