Somehow, there are only two weeks remaining in the Michigan Wolverines regular season. That means a matchup with likely No. 1 overall team in the country Ohio State is on the horizon, but first is a key road test against a scrappy Maryland Terrapins squad.
Despite a 4-6 overall record, the Terps have some talent on this team. Fighting for their lives with bowl eligibility, a week before Michigan plays its most anticipated game of the year, Maryland will be hungry for a win. Here are the guys that
will need to perform to get there.
QB Malik Washington
In the first four games, true freshman quarterback Malik Washington threw for more than 1,000 yards, completed 60 percent of his passes, and scored 10 touchdowns to just one interception. It looked like he could be the best freshman quarterback in the country.
But Big Ten play has been a rude awakening for him, particularly over the last four weeks. He’s failed to finish a single game in that stretch with a completion rate better than 55 percent and has been picked off five times. In other words, he’s come down to earth a bit, now ranking as the No. 91 quarterback in the country according to ESPN’s QBR.
The last thing the Michigan defense can assume is for that to continue. Washington is a dynamic player, as just two weeks ago, he ran for 164 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. At UCLA earlier in the season, he had 67 yards on six carries.
Containing Washington has to be the priority for Wink Martindale’s unit. It will be the full team’s responsibility to keep him in the pocket, stay true to their responsibilities on each play, and make life as difficult as possible for him. If not, he will make plays, including the spectacular.
RB DeJuan Williams
Playing from behind this season, especially lately, Washington has been dumping off a lot of balls to redshirt freshman DeJuan Williams. In fact, he has led the team in receptions and receiving yards over the last four games, and had eight receptions for 50 yards just last week against Illinois. He also had four for 78 and a score against Indiana, and seven for 86 at UCLA in mid-October.
The St. Francis High School grad is also playing for his home state team, so there’s a lot of pride between he and Washington to set the Terps up for success now and the future. While he only averages 3.7 yards per carry, his receiving efforts bump that figure up to 5.1 yards per touch. When he gets in space, he can make defenders miss and make some big plays.
This highlights the importance of Michigan’s linebackers this week. They’ll likely alternate tasks of containing Washington or covering Williams out of the backfield. Once Washington rolls out of the pocket, all hell breaks loose and he’ll take the safe option of using his feet or dumping it off to Williams. That’s what can make this Maryland offense dangerous.
DB Jalen Huskey
One thing Mike Locksley know really well is defensive backs. It seems like Maryland consistently has really great play out of their secondary, and 2025 is no different. The Terps actually rank No. 12 in the nation in turnover margin at +8. That’s in part to 18 interceptions (three pick-sixes) from the Maryland defense coming from eight different players.
After seeing some poor reads from Bryce Underwood against Northwestern last week, this automatically raises some red flags. Maryland has kept games tight this season against Big Ten competition because of turnovers. As evidence the past few weeks, that’s how Michigan has kept teams in it against them this season.
6-foot-2 senior Jalen Huskey is the leader of the unit. He’s up to a team-high four interceptions and has been one of the best free safeties in the Big Ten this season. He’s quick to read plays — in the clip below, you’ll see him crashing toward the line of scrimmage on run plays to keep guys contained, including scrambles from quarterbacks. He is also smart enough to bait passes to seemingly open receivers, a trap young quarterbacks can easily fall into.
This is Huskey’s penultimate home game of his career, and there are a ton of veterans on this Maryland team who have made an impact for the Terps this season. Expect a lot of fight from Huskey and the rest of this squad as they look to have one more college game under their belts if they beat Michigan and keep their bowl hopes alive.
