Maryland Football: 2017 may not be as bad as projected

The Maryland football program is getting ready to embark on their second season under the leadership of D.J. Durkin.

Despite having one of the most difficult schedules in 2017, there’s still a lot of room for optimism regarding the Terrapins.

Maryland is coming off a 6-7 campaign in Durkin’s first year as head coach. The Terps got off to a 4-0 start before struggling during the majority of the Big Ten slate.

In the season finale against Rutgers, Maryland was victorious and clinched bowl eligibility due to that result. As a reward for their effort, a date with Boston College in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Despite 163 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns from Ty Johnson, Maryland fell to Boston College 36-30 and ended their season on a sour note. The Terps dug themselves into a 29-13 halftime deficit before making it a much closer game in the second half.

Even with ending the season in the loss column, there’s still plenty of positives to take heading into the 2017 campaign.

First of all, Durkin got his first taste of running a college football program for a full calendar year. He did an admirable job considering the situation that former coach Randy Edsall left him with.

One of the first things that Maryland fans likely noticed about Durkin was his stellar recruiting ability. In his first full year, the Terps put together a top 25 recruiting class and reeled in eight four-star prospects.

Seven of those four stars hail from Maryland or Virginia, so Durkin has clearly made an impact locally.

When it was time to hit the gridiron, the Terps got off to a hot start. They went 3-0 during nonconference play and dominated Purdue to start off the Big Ten slate.

Following that start, Maryland dealt with quite a bit of adversity. Durkin’s group dropped seven of their final nine games with the lone wins coming against Michigan State (Oct. 22) and Rutgers (Nov. 26).

Maryland did prove that they were capable of running the football at a very high level.

The Terps averaged 199.5 rushing yards per contest and 4.9 yards-per-carry. In addition, Maryland found the end zone on 26 different occasions.

Johnson finished the season with 1,004 rushing yards and averaged a league-leading 9.1 yards-per-carry.

Considering Durkin didn’t even get much time to fill out a recruiting class and it was his first year, 2016 wasn’t too bad for the program. A bowl appearance for a team that hasn’t seen much success in recent years isn’t terrible by any stretch.

That’s why Maryland could be even more competitive this coming season.

The running game is going to be just as good if not better. Former DeMatha star Anthony McFarland joins the backfield and was one of the most talented high school backs in the country over the past few years.

In addition, the quarterback position could provide even more stability despite it being an open competition. Caleb Henderson and Tyrrell Pigrome are the two frontrunners, but it would appear that Henderson has an edge in the battle.

Perry Hills had experience heading into last season, but always was injury prone and struggled to throw the ball downfield at times. If Henderson wins the job, he offers a signal caller with a true pocket presence yet still being mobile enough to extend plays with his legs when he needs to.

Henderson should fit in quite well with Walt Bell’s high-octane offense. The Terps also have D.J. Moore back along promising wideouts like DJ Turner and Jacquille Veii to help give Henderson reliable targets to throw to.

In addition, the Terps didn’t lose a ton of talent on defense aside from cornerback Will Likely, who missed the second half of last season. If Maryland can get pressure on the quarterback, the secondary should be able to hold up pretty well with the likes of J.C. Jackson and Tino Ellis leading the way.

Maryland certainly has a tough Big Ten slate, but the heavyweights are broken up a little bit. The Terps do face the likes of Ohio State and Wisconsin over a three-week stretch in October, but don’t face Michigan until Nov. 11.

That’s unlike last season when they faced Michigan and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks in November.

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It’s certainly going to be an uphill climb for Maryland this season, but it may not be as ugly as many are painting the 2017 season to be.