Maryland Football: Offseason Review and Spring Observations

After an adversity-filled 2025 season, the Maryland Terrapins football program entered this spring at the bottom of the Big Ten looking up. The young Terps showed some flashes of promising potential last year, but struggled mightily in conference competition, winning just one game in league play for the second straight campaign. Despite another down season, Maryland was able to retain almost all of their core playmakers on both sides of the ball. That ranked second nationally behind Notre Dame with 71-percent of last year’s production returning.

The Terrapins only lost five players to the transfer portal who played 150 or more snaps in 2025, which tied for the second-fewest in the Big Ten this offseason. With so much continuity on both sides of the ball, the Terps are looking to silence their many doubters and show major improvements this fall.

Terpsville is the destination 🐢 pic.twitter.com/8WRbfaYpo4

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) March 24, 2026

Maryland Football: Offseason Review and Spring Observations

Top Returners To Watch

Returning the majority of your roster from the prior season is a rarity in today’s NIL age of college football. However, Maryland managed to do just that this spring by convincing nearly all of their top performers from last year to not jump ship for seemingly greener pastures. While the Terps final 2025 record surely wasn’t anything to boast about, Maryland had multiple players show exciting promise throughout an otherwise underwhelming season who could all take even larger leaps forward after another offseason of improvement.

• LB Daniel Wingate: Led team with 102 tackles, adding six and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks, and one interception –a pick six– in 12 games.
• QB Malik Washington: Passed for 2,963 yards with 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while adding 303 rushing yards and four scores in 12 games.
• OLB Sidney Stewart: Totaled 32 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, and two pass deflections in 12 games.
• RB DeJuan Williams: Rushed for 501 yards and three touchdowns; adding 45 catches for 426 yards and one touchdown in 12 games.
• DE Zahir Mathis: Totaled 35 tackles, eight and a half tackles for loss, six sacks, and one pass deflection in 11 games.
• CB Dontay Joyner: Totaled 40 tackles, one tackle for loss, two interceptions, and eight pass deflections in 12 games.
• TE Dorian Fleming: Caught 40 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns in 12 games.
• SAF Messiah Delhomme: Totaled 39 tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery, four pass deflections, and two blocked kicks in 12 games.
• WR Kaleb Webb:  Caught 22 passes for 318 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games.

Coaching Staff & Coordinator Changes

Maryland kept with the theme of continuity when it came to their coaching staff, too, as Mike Locksley returns for another year at the helm. Locksley promoted Chili Davis to special teams coordinator, moved Andre Powell to running backs coach, and brought in former Terrapins All-American Randy Starks to coach the defensive line. The biggest coaching change for the Terps was at offensive coordinator, signing wunderkind Clint Trickett to replace Pep Hamilton as the new play caller in College Park.

Welcome to Terpsville, Coach @CJTrickett9!

Read More on Trickett Here: https://t.co/yLS1G06xx6 pic.twitter.com/bJ6Own6PtD

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) February 18, 2026

Trickett spent last season helping the Jacksonville State offense soar to new heights, orchestrating a unit that led Conference USA in total scoring and rushing in 2025. Before he was the offensive coordinator for the Gamecocks, he served in the same role at Marshall, directing the Thundering Herd to wins over Virginia Tech and Notre Dame during his tenure. Trickett’s addition should have Maryland fans excited for a more balanced attack with a heavier focus on the run game and generating explosive plays.

Key Transfer Portal Additions

The Terrapins badly needed to reload at wide receiver this spring after losing their top three receivers to graduation in Jalil Farooq, Shaleak Knotts, and Octavian Smith Jr. With so much offensive production to replace and defensive depth, Maryland brought in a plethora of potential instant impact players through the transfer portal.

• WR Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding (Old Dominion): Caught 51 passes for 667 yards and six touchdowns in 13 games.
• OG Tellek Lockette (Texas State): 87.7 pass blocking grade from PFF in four games at right guard before injury cut junior season short.
• WR Chris Durr Jr. (Wyoming): Caught 45 passes for 469 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games.
• LB Stephen Dean III (VMI): Team captain totaled 117 tackles, a half sack, and nine tackles for loss in 12 games.
• WR Ejani Shakir (Independence CC): Caught 43 passes for 724 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games.
• RB Terrez Worthy (Temple): Rushed for 71 yards and one touchdown; adding 6 catches for 74 yards and one touchdown in four games.
• DL Derrick LeBlanc Jr. (UCF): Totaled 13 tackles, one-and-a-half sacks, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery in eight games.
• TE Preston Howard (Auburn): Caught 10 passes for 84 yards in 12 games. Had 37 catches for 349 yards and one touchdown in first two seasons with Terps.
• CB Amari Jackson (Boston College): Totaled seven tackles and four pass breakups in four games. Played 13 games in 2023 before dealing with a myriad of injuries.

Lockette, Abdul-Rahim Gladding, and Durr Jr. should be expected to compete for starting snaps right away at the vacant guard and wide receiver spots respectively. Meanwhile, the rest of the transfer class will likely provide much-needed depth at crucial positions throughout the 2026 season and when injuries occur.

With most of Maryland’s offseason focus being retention and development, no “big names” were added in the transfer portal this spring. Instead, the Terps identified a number of less-heralded, but extremely experienced and productive players who they hope can help the team ascend to new heights.

Five-Star Freshman Phenom

The most impactful new addition for the Terrapins this spring is undoubtedly freshman pass rusher Zion Elee. The consensus five-star from Baltimore is the highest-rated recruit to ever commit to Maryland. Teaming up with Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis off the edge immediately gives the Maryland one of the best young pass-rushing trios in college football.

The 2025 Baltimore All-Metro Player of the Year finished his senior season with 72 tackles (20 tackles for loss), 12 sacks and four forced fumbles. Elee participated in both the Under Armour All-America Game (one sack, one TFL, one FF) and the Polynesian Bowl (one tackle, one quarterback hit) in January before joining Maryland this spring. He’s stayed loyal and local while being recruited by every blue-blood powerhouse program in the country, spurning the interest of Indiana, Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, and Georgia.

🎥 Maryland Football: Defined | EP1 | Zion Elee pic.twitter.com/B8eesi8BLd

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) April 10, 2026

Final Spring Observations & 2026 Outlook

Even with a majority of last year’s squad returning, Maryland still needed a few ready-made roster reinforcements this spring. On the offensive line, Lockette looks like he will seamlessly slide in at right guard to replace Aliou Bah who transferred to LSU. At wideout, Webb and the transfer receivers will be expected to step up and produce in the passing game. At quarterback, Washington should only improve after a stellar true freshman campaign. And, he now knows what to expect each week with a full year of Big Ten play under his belt.

On defense, the fearsome edge rotation of Stewart, Mathis, and Elee will be relied upon to wreak havoc on opposing offenses.

The Terrapins 2026 schedule does them few favors, however. They avoid Oregon and Michigan this year but having to head to Columbus to face Ohio State, as well as traveling to USC, before getting Penn State at home to end the season.

Coming off back-to-back four win efforts, head coach Mike Locksley’s future likely hinges on his ability to guide the Terps to a bowl game this fall – at the very least. Maryland intends to play the hand they have been dealt, going all-in on familiarity, and betting that continuity will pay dividends and lead to more consistency (and wins) in 2026.