Maryland started four wide receivers last week against Connecticut. It could very well need to use its share of four-wideout sets Saturday at No. 8 West Virginia.
This isn’t all that interesting on its own. But what is sort of interesting is the Terrapins have basically relied on four —- and only four —- wideouts in its first three games.
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Maryland has worked around this to some extent, splitting tight end Matt Furstenburg out wide at times this season. And the presumptive return of fullback Tyler Cierski (concussion) should provide a little bit more flexibility for offensive coordinator Mike Locksley‘s playcalling.
But it’s basically been a whole lot of Kerry Boykins, Stefon Diggs, Kevin Dorsey and Marcus Leak in the wideout rotation, with contributions from Tyrek Cheeseboro and Nigel King on special teams.
“I think we’re going to play the guys that give us the best chance to be successful,” Locksley said. “Nigel’s a guy who has some abilities. Kerry Boykins is a guy who’s rotated behind, whether it’s taking some extra reps off Marcus Leak as a Z, which gets Stefon onto the field a little more. The four guys right now are the guys that are in the flow of it. We carry six guys each week at the receiver position, and they all have their role and they all know their role.”
Maryland is mildly thin at wide receiver, though not overwhelmingly so based on coach Randy Edsall‘s ideal scholarship distribution. In February, Edsall said he would prefer to have 10 scholarship wideouts. In addition to the six guys listed above, Maryland also has freshmen Malcolm Culmer, Amba Etta-Tawo and Levern Jacobs,
Jacobs plays on special teams, while Culmer and Etta-Tawo appear headed for redshirt seasons barring a surprise. A 10th scholarship receiver, Devin Burns, moved to quarterback during preseason camp.
—- Patrick Stevens
