With the Maryland football team relying on a run-centric offense to start the season, the coaching staff has had a message for its wide receivers: Be ready to block.
The reminder comes during breakfast at Gossett Team House before the players leave for class. It’s reinforced in position meetings and film sessions, and the staff vocalizes it at practice.
Coach DJ Durkin saw the emphasis pay off in Saturday’s 43-point victory against Purdue. While the Terps didn’t surpass 100 yards passing, the first-year coach was pleased with the group’s physicality in the ground game that logged 400 total yards.
“You want to talk about some unselfish guys and some guys that have been invested in their teammates,” Durkin said. “I don’t know how many times I saw guys out there — 20 yards down the field — just sitting there blocking guys out of bounds, finishing them off. That’s where you get those big plays and those home runs that we were able to get.”
As the team celebrated the Big Ten-opening victory, offensive coordinator Walt Bell sought the wide receivers.
“The first thing that I did was go put my arm around those kids,” Bell said. “For those guys to keep playing and keep blocking and keep doing their job at a high level, it’s huge.”
He wanted to congratulate the players’ efforts in helping the Terps record six plays of at least 20 yards. Here’s a breakdown of how the combination of the players split wide and the offensive line helped open each gap.
1. Quarterback Perry Hills opened the Terps’ second drive of the game with a 20-yard checkdown to running back Wes Brown on 1st-and-10 from their own 20.
The offense lined up with four wide receivers, and at the snap, wide receiver Teldrick Morgan swept through the backfield for a fake handoff. Brown ducked through the line.
Wide receiver Levern Jacobs, meanwhile, hurried about 16 yards down the right sideline to close off his defender. The senior has focused on blocking while working to earn his first appearance as a starter on the depth chart this week.
Jacobs held his block while center Brendan Moore and right guard Maurice Shelton continued downfield before a Purdue defender caught Brown from behind.
2. Three plays after Brown’s burst, Hills rushed for 30 yards on 3rd-and-4 from Maryland’s 46-yard line.
The Terps set up with three players out wide, while running back Kenneth Goins Jr. and Morgan flanked Hills in the backfield. The redshirt senior faked the handoff to Morgan before pulling it down and moving toward the left sideline. Hills made a defender miss and then juked behind wide receiver D.J. Moore’s block about 10 yards downfield.
The conversion positioned the Terps for their first touchdown and a 36-0 scoring run.
3. In the second frame, running back Lorenzo Harrison took a 2nd-and-8 handoff on Hills’ right side and darted behind left guard Mike Minter’s block up the middle with no player in his vicinity.
Wide receiver Malcolm Culmer didn’t need to hold his defender as Harrison angled toward the right side of the end zone. The Terps chased after him to celebrate the 62-yard score.
4. Later in the period, running back Ty Johnson lined up on Hills’ right before shifting to the left before the play started.
He then took the ball from Hills, following Moore’s block up the middle and lowering his shoulder to shake off a Purdue defender, en route to a 56-yard gain.
It was the first of Johnson’s three carries of at least 48 yards. The final two, the sophomore said, were his favorites in his career outing.
5. With about nine minutes left in the third quarter, Johnson lined up on Hills’ left with four players split wide. At that point, the Terps had rushed on 27 of their 39 plays.
Purdue failed to stop the team’s 28th run. At the snap, offensive tackle Michael Dunn pulled around the line and led Johnson out of the backfield and up the middle.
Before Dunn set his block, Johnson saw Purdue linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley “with big eyes like he didn’t know what was happening.”
“Dunn just came out and smacked him,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, like I was waiting for that.'”
Johnson streaked between Dunn and Minter’s blocks to power up the field. Culmer kept his defender off balance as Johnson passed Purdue’s 10-yard line, allowing the sophomore to pick up a few extra steps in the 76-yard gain.
6. After quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome relieved Hills, Johnson rattled off his final touchdown of the day.
On 2nd-and-10 from the Boilermakers’ 48, Johnson flanked the rookie on his left before shifting to the right, while the Terps lined two receivers on each side.
At the snap, Johnson grabbed the ball and eluded a defender on the left edge. Wide receiver D.J. Moore, meanwhile, set a block about six yards from the line of scrimmage and tight end Derrick Hayward grabbed another a few yards ahead.
Johnson slipped between their blocks and snaked along the sideline for a 48-yard score to give Maryland a 43-7 lead.
As he powered past Hayward, the redshirt junior flattened his defender into the ground.
“I saw him out of the corner of my eye,” Johnson said. “He just pancaked someone, and I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s my man right there.'”
