Maryland men’s lacrosse defenseman Jack Welding spends his free time watching Adam Sandler movies with attackman Jared Bernhardt. Welding enjoys comedies — he highlighted Billy Madison as his favorite — and he’s always looking for a reason to laugh.
On road trips, Welding shares a room with defenseman Curtis Corley, but the pair don’t spend much time talking about the Terps’ defense. Instead, they watch the Netflix series Scream, a departure from Welding’s usual taste. On Tuesday, days after defeating Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania, Welding and the Terps watched the HBO documentary Paterno.
When he’s not watching movies or TV shows, Welding dedicates himself in the Terps’ film room. His work ethic has allowed him to go from hardly playing last year to starting every game this season, positioning himself to lead the team’s defense going forward.
“He’s stepping into his role,” midfielder Logan Wisnauskas said. “It should really help out for next year, when Curtis takes Bryce’s spot. He’s hard to go against in practice one-on-one. It gets me better.”
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Maryland will likely rely on Welding to continue his breakout season against No. 8 Rutgers on Sunday.
As a freshman last year, Welding worked with then-senior defensemen Tim Muller, Isaiah Davis-Allen and Mac Pons to adjust to the game speed. Welding was a four-year varsity defender at Southlake Carroll High School and was recognized by Inside Lacrosse as the No. 27 defenseman in his class. Still, the Southlake, Texas, native faced a learning curve and played just seven games as a freshman.
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The highlight of his rookie campaign came in a brief appearance against Johns Hopkins at Maryland Stadium, a game the Terps won 12-5 in front of a sellout crowd. He also received a temporary increase in playing time when Pons was sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Ahead of his sophomore season, Welding took Young and Corley’s advice to never give up on a play and become more confident. Now, he’s witnessing the results.
“He’s making a big jump for us,” coach John Tillman said. “The fact that now he’s started every game, even with Bryce out, we asked a lot of Jack. A big credit to Jack’s development goes to Curtis and Bryce.”
Welding also credits his success to his dedication in the film room.
In addition to his individual analysis of previous games and practices, Welding visits assistant coach Jesse Bernhardt’s office two or three times a week to review defensive strategies, mostly talking about one-on-one matchups.
During team film sessions, Welding focuses on opposing offense’s tendencies, their schemes and how they’re scoring goals, as well as how the defenses they faced tried to slow them down.
He’ll also spend time after practice working on his stick skills, recalling the work ethic required to secure a starting job.
Welding, who has recorded five ground balls and four caused turnovers on the season, said he played his best game in the Terps’ 13-12 win against then-No. 15 Penn State on Sunday. Now fully integrated into Bernhardt’s defensive unit, he’s seen his effort rewarded.
“In high school, you can just go out and play,” Welding said. “In college, you actually have to know what everybody’s doing. … At the end of the year, I was kind of iffy on some stuff. Now, I know what I’m doing.”
