Freshman Stefon Diggs gets ready for a team picture on Monday. Diggs, a top-10 recruit out of Olney’s Good Counsel HIgh School, could be a key part of new offensive coordinator Mike Locksley’s multi-set offense this season.

In February, Stefon Diggs stood before a jam-packed crowd at Looney’s Pub and delivered the words every Terrapins football fan was desperate to hear.

“I want to win championships, I want to win ball games,” said Diggs, a then-senior at nearby Good Counsel High School (Olney) who was widely considered the No. 2 wide receiver prospect in the country. “Where else is a better place to do it than your city?”

The announcement triggered a ground-shaking eruption. For the first time in more than five years, the Terps had landed a top-10 recruit.

But as coach Randy Edsall’s team opened preseason practices Monday, it’s still unclear exactly what role Diggs will fill his freshman season. He isn’t listed as a kick returner on the preseason depth chart, and he is fourth at one of the wide-receiver spots.

“The depth chart was based on how the players did in the springtime,” Edsall said. “When we add the freshmen to the list, we just plug them in at the bottom.”

Don’t expect Diggs to stay there for long, though. The Gaithersburg native has already impressed teammates in seven-on-seven work this summer, and his speed alone should be enough to earn him time.

“We’ve seen him in open space and we know what he can do,” quarterback C.J. Brown said. “Once you get the pads on, that’s when players are going to separate themselves. We’ll have to wait a couple days, but we all know he’s going to be a special talent.”

Given the necessary time to develop, Diggs could emerge as an inpart of offensive coordinator Mike Locksley’s multi-set offense this season. Only two of Maryland’s wide receivers have more than a dozen career catches, after all, and Edsall plans to rotate at lease five wideouts.

He could also be a lethal threat in a revamped special teams. The Terps lost their primary punt returner (Tony Logan) to graduation, and last season’s top kickoff returner (Justus Pickett) will likely be used exclusively as a running back this year.

But with the Sept. 1 season opener against William & Mary more than three weeks away, Diggs isn’t fretting over playing time. He’s just trying to adjust to college, to establish himself as dependable teammate.

“My goal is to just be a good teammate, and work hard,” Diggs said. “Basically that’s it, that’s all I can do.”

BROWN UNFAZED

Brown had one of the more lopsided statistical performances in the history of Terps quarterbacks last season.

He set the program’s single-season quarterback rushing record, scrambling for 574 yards. He also had nearly as many interceptions (6) as touchdowns (7), and completed less than 50 percent of his passes.

Still, there is little doubt the junior is the Terps’ most important player this season. He is the unquestioned starter behind center, the leader of a revamped offense that lost several key options to transfers in the offseason.

So does that mean Edsall plans to use the junior more conservatively this season? After all, two unproven freshmen — Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe — are the only other signal callers listed on the Terps’ depth chart.

“I told the coaches that we have to do whatever it takes to win,” Edsall said. “Some games that might be using C.J. more in the rushing game and then there will be games we don’t do that. We can’t sit here and be afraid to do the things C.J. can do to make us better.”

And according to Brown, who ran for an eye-popping 162 yards against Clemson last October, playing it safe is hardly his chief concern at the start of preseason.

“Any time you think about getting hurt or playing a different way than you’re used to, you’re going to be more prone to injury,” he said. “Maybe I’ll be smarter in terms of not taking a big hit and getting down, but I’m not going to change my playing style. I’m not going to change how I play because that’s part of the game.”

POOR CONDITIONING

Edsall told members of the media Monday there were a few players who didn’t pass the start-of-camp conditioning test who would be “dealt with.”

On Tuesday, it became clear exactly what that statement meant.

Three Terps — junior defensive lineman Justin Anderson, freshman wide receiver Levern Jacobs and walk-on defensive lineman Azubuike Ukandu — were held out of practice for not finishing the test, which involved running 24 widths of the field in a set amount of time. They handled various tasks on the sideline Tuesday.

Seven other players didn’t complete the sprints in the allotted time frame, and had to redo parts of the conditioning test.

“They will have to do a little more running and some won’t be able to practice until they are in the kind of shape that we feel they need to be in,” Edsall said.

letourneau@umdbk.com