Maryland Football: New players at key positions making strides

The Maryland football team has significant turnover from their 2015 roster.

However, several of the new Terrapin starters at key positions are making strides.

Coach D.J. Durkin wiped the depth chart clean when he came to College Park, so everyone is getting a fair shake. With the Red-White Spring Game coming up on Saturday, the team will learn more about where each player is in terms of their development.

“When you add competition to practice, you get that,” said Durkin. “That is the culture we are trying to build here. Learn how to win, be there for your teammates. They did a good job with it.”

With defensive end Yannick Ngakoue moving onto the NFL, one player that should get even more playing time is Jesse Aniebonam.

“Obviously I miss playing with Yannick (Ngakoue) on the line,” said Aniebonam. “But the chemistry I have with the rest of the line is all still there, we all have tight bonds. It’s just a matter of mental focus and mental capacity involved in the individual players being able to come together and playing with that same type of intensity and chemistry that we know we can have.”

Aniebonam hasn’t seen the field in a starting role during his first two seasons at Maryland. As a sophomore, the former Good Counsel star registered 23 tackles (14 solo) and had 3.5 sacks in 10 games.

“Last year I was more just a strict defensive end,” added Aniebonam. “This year I’m playing the BUCK position. It’s more similar to when I played the WILL linebacker position my freshman year when we had that defense under Coach (Brian) Stewart. It’s not a major shift; the main difference is that I’m more like a stand up hybrid. It’s all really the same thing; there are packages where I’m in the three-point stance.”

Another position where the Terps are undergoing significant change is placekicker.

Brad Craddock is graduating after a very successful career at Maryland. The Australian kicker won the Lou Groza Award (awarded to the top kicker in the nation) during his junior season.

In 2014, Craddock connected on 18 of his 19 field goal attempts and his lone miss didn’t come until the final regular season game against Rutgers. He also was successful on all 44 extra-point attempts that season.

Craddock missed the final three games due to a hand injury, which forced Adam Greene into action. Greene was the team’s primary kicker in four games because Craddock left early against Wisconsin.

“I really see it as a giant opportunity,” said Greene. “There’s one way you can see it as a challenge because you’re following up a guy who won a Lou Groza Award. But how amazing is it that I get to have that opportunity to be on that level, to get better so I can fill in. Being under him for the past three years and having a role model like him let’s me know where I need to be every single day and so that when I come out here and make the adjustments I can be the best I can be.”

In the final four games of the 2015 season, Greene drilled three of his five field goal attempts. He connected on two of his three attempts against Rutgers in the season finale and hit a 44-yarder against Wisconsin.

He also made all 11 of his extra-point attempts.

Last year’s experience certainly will benefit the junior kicker. He has four games under his belt, so nerves may not be as much of an issue.

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“I really see it as a giant opportunity,” proclaimed Greene. “There’s one way you can see it as a challenge because you’re following up a guy who won a Lou Groza Award. But how amazing is it that I get to have that opportunity to be on that level, to get better so I can fill in.”