Maryland football coach DJ Durkin tried to stay calm.
The 38-year-old rookie leader clapped when his team won the coin toss and his players jogged off the field to start his first game on the Maryland Stadium sidelines. He chatted with an assistant before kick off and offered some high-fives as his players ran off the field once the action started against Howard. Durkin kept his emotions in control.
But when running back Ty Johnson rushed through the Bison line to block a punt midway through the first quarter — the Terps already touted a 14-0 lead — Durkin broke form.
Once running back Trey Edmunds scooped the ball and darted 13 yards into the end zone for the score, Johnson ran to the sideline. As he got close, Durkin leapt into the air for a chest bump. When they landed, he patted Johnson on the back.
As his assistant coaches along the sideline jumped and clapped, Durkin settled in to watch the extra point attempt. The Terps mirrored that poised demeanor, routing Howard, 52-13, with a pounding rushing attack in the staff’s debut.
Johnson and Edmunds, the duo who sent the announced 35,474 fans in the Maryland Stadium seats into a frenzy with their special teams highlight, paced the starting offense out of the backfield.
Johnson earned the start after what the coaching staff called a deep running back competition this offseason, and each finished with six carries for 48 yards and a touchdown. In total, nine Maryland players carried the ball at least once as the team finished with 315 total rushing yards.
Aside from the special teams score and a fourth-quarter field goal from kicker Adam Greene, all of the Terps’ scoring production came on the ground, too. First Kenneth Goins Jr. pounded into the end zone from two yards out to punctuate the Terps’ first drive of 2016 with a score. Edmunds added a three-yard score on the next drive.
And about five minutes after flashing his speed around the edge on the punt, Johnson celebrated with teammates on the opposite end of the field. Johnson ran around the right side of the line, using two blocks from his teammates and a collision between two Howard players in his 21-yard touchdown jaunt.
That’s when Durkin started cycling his reserve players into the action. Freshman running back Lorenzo Harrison, a three-star recruit from DeMatha Catholic High School, capped the half’s scoring after combining for 21 yards on two carries to notch his first college score to give the Terps a 35-0 advantage at the break.
Redshirt senior Perry Hills, starting his third season opener — the first time a Maryland quarterback has done so since Brian Cummings from 1995 to 1997 — finished 14-for-19 for 126 yards. He completed his first 10 passes in offensive coordinator Walt Bell’s no-huddle system.
On the second possession out of intermission, the Terps flashed their depth at quarterback, too.
Freshman Tyrrell Pigrome spelled Hills and flashed the electric skills Bell lauded during his press conference Wednesday. On his second pass attempt, Pigrome threaded a pass to to wide receiver DeAndre Lane up the middle for a 25-yard gain. Three plays later, the duo again connected for the same gain.
The drive ended with the former Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year five yards into the state-flag patterned end zone to put the Terps ahead 42-0, a lead the defense never let Howard threaten.
Before the game, the team announced cornerback J.C. Jackson, a late-summer junior college transfer and a former four-star recruit Durkin landed as an assistant Florida, wouldn’t play due to an academic matter. But the Terps didn’t let the projected starter’s absence diminish their efforts against the Bison.
Ten players recorded at least three tackles and the team totaled nine tackles for loss.
One came from cornerback Josh Woods late in the third quarter.
After the Bison broke their huddle to start a drive on their own 10-yard line, Durkin noticed something in their personnel he wanted his defense to see. He threw his fist up in the air, pulled his headset microphone away from his mouth and shouted, stomping his feet repeatedly to get the Terps attention.
When the Bison snapped the ball, Woods waited for quarterback Kalen Johnson to complete a flare pass before wrapping up the Howard receiver for a loss of a yard.
Durkin clapped his hands a few times before folding his arms and waiting for the next play.
