Maryland Football: Final report card for 2019 season

Overall offense grade: C-

Maryland finished the season averaging 25.3 points per game, which is good for 94th in the country. That’s an astronomical fall from the beginning of the season, even with the level of competition they played being much tougher later in the season than their opening duo.

The team just couldn’t put together sustained drives, and when teams found ways to quickly shut down their explosive plays the offense just slowed to a halt plagued by three-and-outs. The offense had plenty of speed available at the skill positions, especially at running back, but play-calling and preparation seemed to be lacking and Josh Jackson just couldn’t get the ball to where it needed to be on the few occasions he had a clean pocket.

Offensive standout

Javon Leake, RB: The team’s leading scorer and rusher, Javon Leake was the brightest spot on the team. He was a dynamic player with blazing speed who ended the season rushing for 736 yards and eight touchdowns at 7.2 yards per carry. As a kick returner, he was lethal, totaling 30 returns for 804 yards and two touchdowns. In a crowded room of stud running backs, he stood out and made teams pay for leaving even the smallest hole open for him.

Quarterback: C

After a hot start, Virginia Tech transfer Josh Jackson ended the season completing 47.3 percent of his passes for 1,275 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He frequently would just simply miss open targets that should have been easy completions, both on short crossing routes and deep balls. He was never a threat to run and his decision making at times was questionable.

Later in the season, Tyrell “Piggy” Pigrome would get a good amount of drives to lead, but he didn’t look much different despite being a dangerous runner, ending the season with 719 yards, three touchdowns and six interceptions through the air and an additional 153 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

True freshman Lance LeGendre, the prized four-star recruit from Louisiana, came in for a drive against Nebraska and left with a dislocated shoulder. Jackson and Piggy both also suffered minor injuries throughout the season. In other words, it was a classic Maryland season at quarterback. Putting all of the blame on the throwers would be unfair, though, as the offensive line gave them little help.

Running Back: B+

The running backs were truly the bright spot of the Terps’ offense this season. Anthony McFarland, the man who ran all over Ohio State last season and was the first Maryland freshman in years to run for over 1,000 yards in a season, showed his outrageous speed and elusiveness early on but battled an ankle injury for most of the second half of the season. This required Javon Leake to step up into the leading role, and boy did he.

With the passing game faltering and the offensive line looking shaky, the running backs did all they could to create some offensive production. Tayon Fleet-Davis also contributed a lot when needed, and the trio of backs were all frequently involved as receivers as well.

Wide Receiver/Tight End: B-

This is a tough unit to grade since a lot of the passes to them were wild and uncatchable. Plus, with the projected go-to receiver Jeshaun Jones suffering a season-ending injury in the summer, there was a lot of trial and error going on in the depth chart.

Dontay Demus, a promising sophomore, wound up becoming the No. 1 guy and did a solid job of filling the role. He has a ton of raw athleticism and size to be a huge issue for defenses, but just did not have the reliability you need from the man on top of the depth chart. The rest of the receiving corps was a rotation of youth with plenty of talent but not a lot of opportunities to stand out yet.

The tight ends solid and put up a good bit of production, which is a lot for the Terps since it’s been years since passing to a tight end has been a real thing. The tight ends were notable for being big red-zone threats, especially since the team could rarely punch the ball in on the ground.

Offensive Line: D

Let me just start by saying that the bulk of the offensive line’s problems were the result of injuries and the resulting extreme lack of depth which led to players being rotated around like crazy and defensive linemen being swapped to play on offense.

The lack of depth was also due to two of the team’s best linemen leaving for the NFL draft and very little done to replace them during the recruiting period since it largely fell in the period between head coaches. The players themselves were really fine, but not having many people to sub in led quickly to exhaustion that would show up late in games. This was most apparent during the slog at Temple, where the Terps’ offense had eight straight chances on the goal line to punch it in, but the line just couldn’t get enough push to get there.

You can imagine how this went the rest of the year when the Terrapins their Big Ten schedule, the conference known for all the beef present on the lines. To wrap it all up, the line couldn’t buy the quarterbacks much time or open up enough holes for the backs, simple as that.