Two-A-Days: Maryland & Minnesota College Football Season Preview
I’ll have college football season previews for all Big Ten teams and Notre Dame as we lead up to the 2023 campaign. Today we have two middle-of-the-pack teams in their respective divisions – Maryland and Minnesota. Both teams had solid seasons in 2022 … but ALSO have some key pieces to replace coming up this fall.
Maryland Terrapins
It gets lost a little bit in the top-heavy Big Ten East, but Maryland has quietly begun to establish itself in the Big Ten. Sure, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State will almost always rule the division (well, in the limited time it has remaining). But Maryland has begun to take on a reputation of a team that can develop talent, and give good teams a hard time.
Yes, they got throttled by Penn State last season. But against Michigan, they went toe-to-toe with the Wolverines in the Big House losing 34-27, but having a chance with the ball to tie the game late. They hosted Ohio State late in the season and gave the Buckeyes all they could handle. The Terps also saw five players get selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. So while they’re most certainly not the class of the Big Ten, the program has come a long way under Mike Locksley.
Offensively, the Terps lost a good chunk of production, but they’ll bring back their most important piece in quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. He threw for 3,008 yards and 18 touchdowns last season with 8 INTs. The year prior, he threw for 3,860 and 26 scores with 11 INTs. The numbers dropped a bit last year due to almost 100 fewer attempts through the air. While he’s not really a running quarterback, he has ran for six scores of the last two seasons.
In terms of Tagovailoa’s targets, he lost two of his favorites to the NFL and one via the transfer portal. Maryland did, however, do a nice job in the transfer portal to replace that production. Tyrese Chambers transferred in from FIU – over the last two seasons there he racked up 1,618 receiving yards and 13 TDs. They also scooped Kaden Prather from West Virginia. Prather caught 52 passes for 501 yards and 3 TDs last season. Also coming back is Jeshaun Jones and Corey Dyches who combined for over 1,000 yards and 7 TDs in 2022. So while the losses to the NFL sting, Mike Locksley did a solid job filling in the holes.
Roman Hemby returns in the backfield for the Terps where he ran for 989 yards and 10 TDs last season. He was an All-Big Ten honorable mention last season. Maryland is going to have to get better up front, however. The offensive line was leaky at times last year, and in the Big Ten East where you’ll go up against talented fronts regularly, they’ll have to improve and keep Tagovailoa upright.
Maryland’s defense was solid last fall, and they’ll look for similar production again in 2023. They lost some contributors up front in the transfer portal, they did however bring in a few pieces. Donnell Brown comes in from St. Francis of the FCS where he had 6.5 sacks in 2022. In addition, the Terps added Jordan Phillips, a former three-star recruit from Tennessee. So they got some new pieces, but questions still very much exist for them on the defensive line.
Jaishawn Barham and Ruben Hyppolite II return for the Maryland linebacker corps. Barham had 59 tackles for the Terps last year. Hyppolite missed some time last season but finished with 62 tackles in 2021. The Terps lost a pair of starting corners in the NFL draft last April in Deonte Banks (1st Round) and Jakorian Bennett (4th Round). Replacing them will be no easy task, but the secondary should be a solid unit again this fall. Ja’Quan Sheppard comes in from Cincinnati where he has 10 pass breakups last season, though no interceptions. Safety Beau Brade also returns for 2023. He led the team with 85 tackles in 2022 while intercepting two passes and forcing two fumbles.
Key To The Season
The trenches. Maryland is going to have the skill players to compete with some of the big boys. They’re going to have to improve their consistency up front on both sides of the ball if they want to pull of a major upset against one of the top three teams in the Big Ten East. They allowed the most sacks of any team in the Big Ten in 2022 (43), and had just the ninth-most sacks defensively (24). They’ll need to boost those numbers.
Prediction
The schedule is favorable for Maryland this season. The non-conference really isn’t bad. Their Big Ten West crossover games aren’t bad either with Northwestern, Nebraska, and Illinois. If they can steal one against Michigan, Penn State, or Ohio State they’ll have a chance to be a ten-win team down the stretch.
Record: 8-4
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota has been nothing but solid since PJ Fleck took over the program coming from Western Michigan. In three of the last four seasons, the Gophers have won 9+ games. The only year in which they didn’t was the 3-4 COVID season. Minnesota should be solid again this fall, but they’ll need some new faces to step up in key positions.
Starting at the quarterback position, Tanner Morgan is no longer in Minnesota calling the signals. It’s now Athan Kaliakmanis’ show. Kaliakmanis played four games for Minnesota last year plus when Morgan was down with an injury, as well as in Minnesota’s bowl game. In those five appearances he varied in production, and the numbers were a bit underwhelming with under 1,000 yards passing and only 3 TDs to 4 INTs. The Gophers, however, were a run-first offense last season with their dynamic backfield, so with a backup QB in the run game was emphasized. Kaliakmanis is a former four-star recruit, so the potential is there.
The biggest loss from the Minnesota offense, however, is running back Mo Ibrahim. Ibrahim was outstanding for the Gophers on 2023 rushing for 1,665 yards and 20 touchdowns. He’s now gone to the NFL, and his production will be very difficult to reproduce. Sean Tyler will likely be the feature back tasked with filling Ibrahim’s big footsteps. Tyler transferred in from Western Michigan where he ran for over 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons to go along with 16 rushing touchdowns. So he might not be Ibrahim, but he’s not a bad replacement.
As for the pass catchers, Minnesota’s second-leading receiver Brevyn Spann-Ford returns at tight end. After a really solid 2022 with nearly 500 yards receiving and a pair of touchdowns, his role should increase and Minnesota fans are high on the senior tight end. Also coming from Western Michigan is wideout Corey Crooms who went for 814 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns last fall. The Gophers also picked up Elijah Spencer in the transfer portal out of Charlotte who had nearly 1,000 yards receiving to go with 9 TDs last year.
On the offensive line, the Gophers will certainly miss their anchor at center John Michael Schmitz who was drafted this April. However, Fleck’s teams at Minnesota have always produced solid units up front and Minnesota will have some returning talent to ease the blow of that loss.
Minnesota had a very solid defensive unit in 2022. They finished fourth in the country in scoring defense and eighth in the country in total defense. The Gophers also led the Big Ten in third-down defense and was fifth in interceptions. They did all of that, however, while finishing second to last in the conference in sacks recording just 19 of them over 13 games. Minnesota’s defense should be good again this year, but that number is going to have to improve. There weren’t many flashy portal pick-ups or recruiting wins there that will make an immediate impact so that growth will have to come organically.
As for the linebackers and secondary, those two groups are in good shape thanks to returning contributors and the transfer portal. The team’s second-leading tackler from 2022 Cody Lindenberg returns to the LB corps in addition to yet another Western Michigan transfer Ryan Selig. Selig should come in and start right away.
The secondary will have to come up big again for the Gophers this fall with a questionable pass rush. Luckily for them, they’re expected to be a solid unit headlined by safety Tyler Nubin. Nubin had 4 INTs along with a forced fumble and 55 tackles for the Minnesota defense.
Key To The Season
Rushing the passer. Minnesota wasn’t able to get to the quarterback at all last season, but the rest of the defense was still able to succeed. That’s not necessarily likely to happen two years in a row. Inability to pressure the QB and relying on your linebackers and secondary to come up with big plays isn’t a sustainable model. And with some good quarterbacks on the schedule early, we’ll see this key tested. If Minnesota can pick up the slack getting to the quarterback, it will go a long way in helping a program with a lot of new faces this season.
Prediction
It’s a tough schedule for the Gophers this year drawing both Michigan and Ohio State from the Big Ten East. They’ll also travel to Chapel Hill for a non-conference matchup with Drake Maye and the high-flying North Carolina offense. With a lot of new faces in key positions, 9 wins again might be a tall task. But Fleck’s teams have been steady for some time now, no never count them out.
