Take the name off the jersey for a second.

Forget that it is Maryland. Forget the recent history. Forget the part where the Terps started hot last year and then completely fell apart.

Just look at the profile.

A team with a returning sophomore quarterback who set freshman school records for completions and passing yards. A team that returns a huge chunk of its roster. A team that brings back multiple offensive linemen from a group that barely allowed its quarterback to get touched. A team with eight defensive starters back. A team sitting near the very top of the country in returning snap production.

If you laid that out without saying the school name, people would at least pay attention.

Then you say it is Maryland, and everybody gets cautious.

I get it.

The Terps went 4-8 last season and 1-8 in the Big Ten. They lost their final eight games. They have not exactly earned the benefit of the doubt.

But I do think Maryland is more interesting than people realize.

And it starts with Malik Washington.

HEAD COACH:

• Mike Locksley, entering year nine at Maryland
• Locksley is 37-49 with the Terps.
• Maryland went 4-8 last season.
• The Terps finished 1-8 in the Big Ten.
• Maryland has gone 8-16 over the last two seasons.

This is a big year for Mike Locksley.

Maryland has had moments under him. The program has recruited well. The Terps have developed some real NFL talent. There have been years where Maryland looked like it was about to become a stable bowl program.

But the Big Ten is unforgiving.

Last year was a perfect example. Maryland started 4-0, beat Wisconsin, had a big lead on Washington, and then the whole thing unraveled. The Terps lost that Washington game, then lost every game after it.

That cannot happen again.

The frustrating part is that this roster has enough pieces to believe Maryland should be better. The Terps are not starting over. They are not breaking in a new quarterback. They are not replacing the whole defense. They are not some mystery team with no experience.

That is why this season matters so much.

If Maryland is ever going to take a step under Locksley, this feels like the kind of roster that should do it.

QUARTERBACK:

This is the reason to care.

Malik Washington is back, and he is probably the best argument for Maryland being a real sleeper.

As a true freshman, Washington started all 12 games, completed 273 passes for 2,963 yards and 17 touchdowns. His completions and passing yards were both Maryland freshman records, and he also ran for more than 300 yards.

That is a strong freshman year.

Washington completed 57.7% of his passes with 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran 56 times for 303 yards and four touchdowns, including a huge rushing day against Rutgers.

The thing that jumps out is that he was doing all of that behind an offensive line that was excellent in pass protection.

Maryland threw the ball more than anybody in the country, and still Washington barely got sacked. That is not normal.

Now, some of that is Washington. He can move. He can escape. He can make things happen.

But a lot of it is the line too.

That gives Maryland a foundation most teams with young quarterbacks do not have.

The next step is obvious.

Washington has to become more efficient. The completion percentage needs to come up. The interceptions need to come down. Maryland cannot ask him to throw it on almost two-thirds of its plays and carry the whole offense every week.

But if he takes the normal freshman-to-sophomore jump, Maryland has something.

THE REST OF THE OFFENSE

The offense was not good enough last season.

Maryland averaged only 21.6 points per game, which ranked outside the top 100 nationally. The Terps averaged 355 yards per game, but the run-pass balance was almost nonexistent.

Maryland ran the ball on only about 36% of its plays, dead last nationally.

That is wild.

And it was not just that Maryland chose not to run it. The Terps could not run it well enough to make defenses respect it. They averaged only 23.8 rushing attempts per game, also near the bottom of the country.

So, yes, Washington is the headline.

But the season probably depends on whether Maryland can run the football.

DeJuan Williams is back, and he should get every chance to become the lead back. The sophomore’s role has to grow if the Terps are going to become more balanced.

The line gives them hope.

Michael Hershey, Isaiah Wright and Rahtrel Perry are all back  and give Maryland real size and experience up front.

The weird part is that Maryland was good in pass protection but terrible in the run game – dead last in PFF’s run block rankings.

That has to change.

You cannot ask a sophomore quarterback to throw on 64% of the snaps and expect that to be a winning formula in the Big Ten. At some point, you have to be able to hand the ball off and get four yards.

The receiver room is also a little more uncertain.

Kaleb Webb is the top returning receiver after catching 22 passes last season.

That is not a ton.

Dorian Fleming helps a lot at tight end.

The Terps also added Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding from Old Dominion and Chris Durr Jr. from Wyoming.

The offense does not need to become Ohio State.

But it has to become more balanced.

If Washington is throwing 40 times every week again, Maryland is probably not where it wants to be.

If the run game gives him help, this offense becomes a lot more dangerous.

DEFENSE

This is where Maryland should be better.

The Terps return a lot on defense, and that is why the sleeper case exists.

The names start up front with Zahir Mathis and Sidney Stewart. Maryland lists Mathis as a sophomore defensive lineman and Stewart as a sophomore defensive lineman as well. Both were young impact pieces, and both are part of the reason there is some real optimism about the front.

Then there is Zion Elee, the five-star freshman edge rusher.

Elee is listed on Maryland’s roster as a freshman defensive lineman from St. Frances Academy, and he gives the Terps another explosive young piece off the edge.

That is the kind of talent Maryland needs.

The linebacker group has experience too.

Zahir Mathis, Trey Reddick, Sidney Stewart and Daniel Wingate give Maryland a lot of playable front-seven pieces. Wingate and Reddick are both listed on the official roster at linebacker.

The secondary has names back as well.

Jamare Glasker, Dontay Joyner and Lavain Scruggs are all listed on Maryland’s roster, and all three should have meaningful roles.

The question is whether returning production turns into better results.

That is always the catch.

It is nice to bring players back. It is better when those players become part of a defense that actually improves.

Maryland needs more disruption. It needs more negative plays. It needs more stops in the second half. It needs to avoid the kind of defensive slides that turned winnable games into losses last season.

The talent is there.

The experience is there.

Now the defense has to play like it.

SCHEDULE

The schedule gives Maryland a chance to start fast again.

The Terps open with Hampton at home, go to UConn, then host Virginia Tech and UCLA. Maryland’s official schedule has three of the first four games at SECU Stadium, with the only road trip coming at UConn.

That first month is everything.

Hampton is a game Maryland has to win.

UConn is a road game, but it is still a game Maryland should feel like it can win.

Then it gets interesting.

Virginia Tech comes to College Park on Sept. 19, and that game will tell us a lot. The Hokies are entering year one under James Franklin, and they have a lot coming back. Maryland is in year nine under Locksley and should be more settled.

That is a game Maryland needs if it wants people to take the sleeper talk seriously.

Then comes UCLA.

If Maryland is 3-1 after September, that feels fine.

If the Terps are 4-0, suddenly people are paying attention.

But the next stretch is brutal.

Maryland goes to Nebraska on Oct. 3 and Ohio State on Oct. 10. Then the Terps host Rutgers, get a bye, and host Illinois on Oct. 31.

That is where the season can swing.

Rutgers beat Maryland 35-20 last year, and Washington had a huge rushing day in that loss.

Illinois is a tough, physical team.

Ohio State is Ohio State.

The back half is not easy either. Maryland goes to Purdue, hosts Wisconsin, travels to USC, and closes at home against Penn State.

That USC trip is tough.

Penn State to end the year is tough.

There are enough winnable games here for Maryland to get to a bowl.

But there are also enough landmines that another slide is possible if the Terps do not handle the early part of the schedule.

OUTLOOK

I understand why people are skeptical.

Maryland went 4-8 last year. The Terps lost eight straight games. They had positive momentum and watched it disappear. Until Maryland proves it can finish, people are not going to buy in.

That is fair.

But I also think this team is more interesting than its record.

Malik Washington is back after a record-setting freshman year. The offensive line should be good enough in pass protection to keep him upright. The defense returns a ton. There are young edge pieces to like. The schedule starts in a way that gives Maryland a chance to build confidence.

That is the optimistic case.

The concern is obvious too.

The run game was terrible. The offense was too one-dimensional. The receivers are unproven. The second half of last season was a disaster. And the Big Ten does not give you many soft spots once conference play gets rolling.

The best-case scenario is that Washington takes a big sophomore jump, DeJuan Williams gives the Terps a real run game, Dorian Fleming becomes a safety blanket, one of the new receivers pops, and the defense turns all that returning experience into actual production.

If that happens, Maryland can be a bowl team and maybe more than that.

The worst-case scenario is that the run game still cannot function, Washington has to carry too much, the defense is experienced but not good enough, and the schedule wears Maryland down again after a decent start.

The Terps have enough pieces to win six or seven games, and if Washington really breaks out, they could become one of those teams nobody wants to play.

The name on the jersey may make people hesitate.

The roster should make them think twice.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.