Maryland has turned the corner in multiple ways since interim coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim has taken over. Last weekend, a right turn onto “Terp Alley” helped Maryland finally snap a 13-game Big Ten losing streak.
“Our staff got together right when Coach [Mike Locksley] got let go, and we created a blueprint of how we felt to be successful,” Abdul-Rahim said Tuesday. “We didn’t really didn’t look at what was done before. We wanted to be as imaginative, innovative as possible.”
“Terp Alley” is one of those innovations. The roadway nomenclature describes situational practice sessions for the Terrapins— third and fourth downs, two-point conversions and the like — in which the first team offense and defense face off in as close to a game-atmosphere Abdul-Rahim and his staff can deliver.
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“All of the things that we needed to do better with, that you only get a live, intense rep in the game, we wanted to try to emulate that in practice,” Abdul-Rahim said. “And everybody has bought into it.”
“It definitely just brings a competitive aspect to practice,” receiver Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding said. “Coming to practice, you need energy, you need juice to get things rolling. When you start off practice like that, you know guys are fired up. It just makes practice that much more competitive.”
The periods start off with the blow of a siren, said linebacker Nahsir Taylor, that gets everyone to lock in on the task at hand — with consequences if they don’t.
“If you’re not executing in Terp Alley, good luck playing in the game,” Abdul-Rahim said. “Because we’re treating it like a game … we’re trying to get it as close to the game as as possible.”
Thanks to “Terp Alley” and other changes, Maryland (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) was noticeably more competitive in a three-point loss to Illinois in Abdul-Rahim’s first game. The momentum spilled over Saturday as Maryland finally got off its conference skid in a 34-29 win at Purdue.
“We came up with the plan, and probably the biggest thing I’m excited about is, the plan is working,” Abdul-Rahim said. “The plan is working in our favor, but they believe.”
The win was Maryland’s first since mid-September, first Big Ten win in its last 14 tries dating to September 2025, and only its sixth November win since 2019. Abdul-Rahim doesn’t credit the Terrapins’ looser, more freer look exclusively to him, but more to the moves he and Maryland’s staff have tried to alter everyone’s perspective in the final third of the season.
“I think during these type of these changes, I think it’s important to try different things,” said Abdul-Rahim, who received a Gatorade bath and was carried off the field by his players after his first win as coach. “I think it’s important for the kids to feel something new, to feel a little bit of breath of fresh air, so to speak.”
Cold air will join the program’s atmosphere this weekend as Wisconsin (6-3, 4-2) comes to College Park (noon, FS1). The Badgers bring not only the region’s first blast of winter weather with highs struggling to get out of the 40s, but also freshman quarterback Ryan Hopkins, who posted 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-10 win over Rutgers, earning him conference freshman of the week honors.
“You see a level of poise with someone who has not played a lot of football,” Abdul-Rahim said of Hopkins, who will remain the starter this week ahead of injured but available junior QB Colton Joseph. “He doesn’t look inexperienced. He doesn’t look rattled. I think they do a good job, which you should do it with a freshman quarterback, of trying to make his his reads as easy as possible.”
The Badgers score the third-fewest points per game in the Big Ten (24.4), but have a win over Southern California — Maryland’s opponent in two weeks — and their three losses were all to ranked teams: Notre Dame, UCLA and Iowa. Wisconsin also boasts the conference’s stingiest scoring defense, allowing only 16.3 points per game led by linebacker Cooper Catalano and his league-leading 90 combined tackles.
“I’ve played against Wisconsin, and they have a set culture. They are who they are,” Abdul-Rahim said. “That is probably more of how we need to set the tone is the run game … but we do understand Wisconsin football is built on stopping the run.”
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