Maryland coach Mike Locksley has often heralded how young his team is, emphasizing his “developmental program” and the required patience over the years as players learn the ways of the college game.
This year, however, Maryland’s freshmen have thrown the prerequisites to play out the window and arrived in College Park with the skill and ability to make an immediate impact.
“They’ve been diligent in the meeting rooms with their coaches and on their own. They’ve practiced well the last two, three weeks. And so I like the way these guys have taken the coaching as a young team,” Locksley said.
The reasons are multifold. Locksley says an “across the board” maturity among his freshman class — led by quarterback Malik Washington and ranked in the top-25 nationally by 247Sports composite rankings — is foremost.
“You know, Malik shows great maturity, but Zahir [Mathis] is one of those guys that he has a really strong why,” Locksley said. “He is so disciplined in every part of his life. This kid, it’s like talking to a grown man when you meet him.”
Mathis, a four-star defensive end, decommitted from Ohio State and joined Maryland’s class late in the recruiting cycle. Locksley highlighted his coaching at Philadelphia’s Imhotep Institute Charter — the same school that produced Maryland legend D.J. Moore — but his biggest traits are natural, not teachable.
“His ability — he’s physically able to play,” Locksley said of the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Mathis. “You look at his body type compared to maybe how we’ve had to recruit and develop body types like that. To get a guy that comes in with that body type as a freshman is a big hit for us, and he’s played pretty well.”
Mathis has already made an impact up front, recording four tackles and a sack in Maryland’s Week 2 win over Northern Illinois. The Terrapins finish their non-conference schedule Saturday with in-state foe Towson (noon, Peacock).
“I always just keep my head down, keep my head down and be physical,” Mathis said. “Stay in tune with me and what I did throughout my career. And what I’ve been down throughout my time here.”
Another key component is coaching. Specifically, new defensive coordinator Ted Monachino, whom Lockley hired as someone “that can help us win now.”
“I love coach Ted’s style. At first, it was a little rough for me. In high school, I played as a hand-down edge rusher. Just getting here, becoming an outside linebacker, it’s new for me, but it’s definitely firing up in me,” Mathis said. “I’m pretty amazed at what i can do. and the way that he sets up the scheme, everything is as advertised for us to be the best.”
Add in Sidney Stewart, who has eight tackles, two sacks and a safety in two games, as another starting freshman making an impact. With him and Mathis bookending a defensive front that graduated three players and saw defensive tackle Jordan Phillips drafted by the Miami Dolphins, Maryland is suddenly in a privileged position of reloading, not rebuilding, along the line.
“When you can rush the quarterback with a four-man rush, which we’re able to do now with the young guys like Sidney Stewart and Zahir … to have those kind of guys that are winning the on-on-ones, allows us to have a little more coverage,” Locksley said. “And to me, that’s what really helps.”
Washington, Mathis and Stewart are part of a trend that Locksley has pivoted to embrace in the sport: the urgency and necessity to get prized recruits to “grow up fast and grow up now” and on the field quicker than in years past.
“You understand what you signed up for,” Mathis said. “You came here to play. You came here to be great.”
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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