For about three hours on Monday, Maryland football running back Ty Johnson sat in a barber’s chair completely at ease, with an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air playing on his phone.

His barber trimmed the sides of his hair into a fade, braided the top and pulled the rest into a poof at the back of his head, showing off some of the orange dye originally coloring the tips of his hair.

At one point, the barber asked Johnson if she was pulling on his hair too hard.

“I get hit harder than this,” Johnson responded, turning his attention back to Will Smith on his phone.

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Johnson is currently leading a run-first Terps offense with 300 yards and two touchdowns, pacing the Big Ten with 7.5 yards per carry and steadily climbing up the ranks in Maryland history for all-purpose and rushing yards.

But he doesn’t let on to feeling any pressure as the leader of a running back group filled with talent. The senior spends his free time scrolling through Google and Pinterest in search of his next look.

“My hair was getting in my face too much,” Johnson said. “I had to flip it back to get my helmet on. So I was just like, ‘All right, I need to put it back for a little bit so I can see finally.'”

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If Johnson’s hair was impeding him before, you wouldn’t know it from his production.

The Cumberland native collected 115 all-purpose yards in the season-opening win over then-No. 23 Texas. He helped the Terps overcome a halftime deficit against Bowling Green the next week with 124 rushing yards and a touchdown, and he picked up 123 yards on the ground in Maryland’s win over Minnesota two weeks later.

That marked the 10th 100-yard game of his Terps career and his second this season, although between those two was a 23-yard effort on six carries in Maryland’s 35-14 loss to Temple.

In the past two games, redshirt freshman Anthony McFarland has taken on a larger role for the Terps, adding another contributor to the Terps’ backfield. While Johnson struggled against the Owls, McFarland ran for 107 yards.

“My confidence is always there,” Johnson said. “I know, no matter what, if I’m in there or anyone else is there, the runs are going to happen.”

If Maryland wants to hang with No. 15 Michigan and its top-ranked defense in the Big House, it will likely need strong performances from both Johnson and McFarland.

“If we’re running the ball successfully,” defensive lineman Mbi Tanyi said, “it’s going to be a good day for the Terps.”

Johnson said he’s been growing out his hair since his breakout sophomore year. He guessed he’s tried out “four or five” hairstyles since arriving in College Park with a standard crew cut.

Last winter, he braided his hair twice and dyed the tips of his high-top fade. Now, he has a combination of them all.

Not that his current look was by design. Johnson tried to trim his hair himself, but he cut off too much. That left some of his dark hair visible in the middle of his head, contrasting with the dyed portions around it.

Instead, he went to a barber shop on his day off and kicked back with an episode of The Fresh Prince.

“That’s how it happened,” Johnson said. “I’ll keep this for like a week or so.”

CORRECTION: Due to an error, a previous version of this story listed running back Anthony McFarland as one of Maryland’s starters. Ty Johnson is the lone starting tailback against Michigan. It has been corrected.