Maryland Football: Kenneth Goins Jr. brings leadership

Fullback is not exactly a “sexy” position on the gridiron.

However, Kenneth Goins Jr. is a very important factor in the running game and should continue to lead by example this fall.

Goins came to College Park as a highly-regarded two-way player that starred at GIlman (Md.) He was rated as a three-star recruit that ended up choosing Maryland over East Carolina, Syracuse, and Tulane.

Goins was a highly-touted linebacker and was even named the All-Metro Defensive Player of the Year by the Baltimore Sun.

Goins redshirted the 2012 season, but was been a mainstay for the Terrapins ever since.

During the past three seasons, the Baltimore native was carried the ball just 32 times for 170 yards. He’s also caught 13 passes for 117 yards.

Goins definitely hasn’t seen the ball come his way a ton. However, he’s made the most of his touches during his Maryland career.

One of the key attributes that Goins possesses is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.

While he’s only had 13 receptions in his three years as a Terp, three of those have went for touchdowns.

One of those came against South Florida on September 19 of last season.

With Maryland trailing 7-0 early in the first quarter, the Terps found themselves at the Bulls one-yard line. Quarterback Caleb Rowe displayed a beautiful play fake and made his way towards the right hash marks. Rowe dumped the ball off to a wide-open Goins in the end zone.

Goins oftentimes finds himself wide-open because opposing teams don’t view him as a threat to catch the ball. That’s definitely the case with quite a few fullbacks in both the college and NFL ranks.

Goins showed off his tremendous hands in his redshirt freshman campaign back in 2013.

In his first collegiate game against Florida International, Goins found himself in another similar situation. Quarterback C.J. Brown faked the handoff to his running back and found a wide-open Goins in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown.

As impressive as Goins has been with some of his big touchdown receptions, the most outstanding play of his career came last season against Rutgers.

Maryland was behind against Rutgers 38-33 in the fourth quarter and was in need of a big play. Rowe stand out of the shotgun and handed the ball off to Goins on a simple draw.

Goins hit the hole hard and burst straight up the middle and was off to the races for a 42-yard touchdown. That gave the Terps the lead in addition to touchdown runs from 42, 43, and 44 yards on the afternoon.

While Goins isn’t exactly known for his speed, he hit the hole at just the right time and left the Scarlet Knight defenders in the dust.

Goins is just a very smart football player that will play a pivotal role for the Terps this fall. He’ll be paving the way for the likes of Wes Brown, Trey Edmunds, and Ty Johnson.

Goins will also be a leader in the huddle, which a team can never have too many of.

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If Goins can continue to be valuable in the running game as both a blocker and runner, it’ll be a huge boost to the Maryland offense