Aaron Campbell heard the buzz about Malik Washington, a high-level eighth grade quarterback, long before they ever worked together. Washington played for the Maryland Heat, a local youth football team, and had offers to nearly every private high school in the state.
But Campbell, a quarterback trainer and the founder of Respect and Honor Academy for quarterbacks, isn’t one to fall for preliminary hype. He needed to see it with his own eyes.
So in Washington’s first training session, Campbell placed the teenager in his oldest age group — a cluster of high school and college quarterbacks. Washington’s first three throws were some of the worst Campbell had ever seen.
Each ball rolled off his fingertips and skipped across the grass. Some of his peers shared a laugh. Campbell shot a side-eyed gaze. Washington hung his head and trudged to the side.
“It was bad, and he was embarrassed,” Campbell said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, this kid is all hype.’”
Washington muttered to himself, picked his head up and returned to the field. He finished the harsh workout while trading trash talk with the other players.
Campbell said most kids in that situation would never come back. Washington returned the next day.
“He’s an eighth grader doing this,” Campbell said. “That’s not normal.”
Much about Washington isn’t normal.
He led Archbishop Spalding to its first-ever Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A championship, then did the same the next year. He’s a two-sport athlete who also starred on the Cavaliers’ basketball team the past two seasons. He has a 3.7 GPA and runs a free annual summer clinic for youth football players.
“He’s the type of kid where, if you don’t think he can do it, he’s going to show you that he can,” Campbell said. “And then he’s going to tell you that he did it.”
[4-star QB Malik Washington commits to Maryland football]
Perhaps most uniquely, he’s leading a movement — one that’s allowing the Terps to keep some of the Washington, D.C.,-Maryland-Virginia area’s best players at home.
Since Washington’s June 28 commitment, a handful of other four-star prospects have followed. Bryce Jenkins, Zymear Smith, Jaylen Gilchrist and Messiah Delhomme all announced their commitments to Maryland. Coach Michael Locksley has reeled in more local four-star recruits in the last two months than he has in any other class since his arrival in 2018.
Washington’s local connections run deep within Maryland’s class. The quarterback played with running back commits Iverson Howard and Bud Coombs on the Maryland Heat. He’s high school teammates with cornerback Jayden Shipps and defensive lineman Delmar White.
“Some guys around here that are my age or a little bit younger than me — some of those guys in the [2026, 2027] class — they could realize, if we can stay home and get it done, why not stay home and get it done?” Washington said.
On May 15, 2015, four-star quarterback Dwayne Haskins verbally committed to Maryland. Locksley, Maryland’s then-offensive coordinator, was Haskins’ primary recruiter, and the two were said to have a close relationship.
Then-Maryland coach Randy Edsall was fired that October and Locksley finished the season as interim coach. Maryland hired DJ Durkin as its new head coach in December, and Locksley departed for a job on Alabama’s staff.
Haskins flipped his commitment to Ohio State one month later. Fellow Maryland native four-star Keandre Jones did the same. Maryland lost its best two players in the class.
Despite the fallout, that year offered a hint of Locksley’s recruiting vision: a DMV-centric attack anchored by a high-level quarterback. Nearly a decade later, his 2025 class can actualize that plan, with Washington at the head.
[Top-100 recruit Jaylen Gilchrist commits to Maryland football]
“He’s the type of kid that people gravitate around, and he’s a leader. I mean, it shows in everything that he does,” Campbell said. “Him walking into Maryland with the movement that coach Locks is trying to get off the ground, he’s definitely a person who can be the face of that.”
The Terps have notched back-to-back eight-win seasons for the first time since 2002. They’ve won three consecutive bowl games for the first time in program history.
It’s a program that’s shown flashes but has yet to break through on a national level. Maryland cracked the Associated Press Top 25 just once since it joined the Big Ten in 2014.
Spalding had a similar trajectory. The Cavaliers moved from the MIAA B to the MIAA A Conference in 2011. They saw some success after hiring coach Kyle Schmitt in 2013 but were never considered a hotbed for local recruits.
When choosing which high school to attend, local powerhouses like St. Frances didn’t sway Washington. He chose Spalding because he forged strong relationships with the coaches, lived nearby and wanted to lead the team to greater heights.
Washington hopes to continue his impact at Spalding with a similar one at Maryland — a school that hasn’t won a conference championship since 2001.
“I think that’s kind of how I am as a person. I like going to places that I can help become something more than it already is,” Washington said. “That’s really my ultimate goal, is to build it up, leave it better than I found it and leave it better for the next guys.”
