It is Aazaar Abdul-Rahim’s Terrapins program to lead for the time being in College Park, with multiple changes and a new energy permeating the first few days of his tenure.
If that translates to a change in the product on the field remains to be seen. But the interim coach and his players are confident things will be different when Maryland hosts Illinois Saturday in the first game following following the firing of Mike Locksley.
“We want to get back to the basics, and that’s the love of the game,” Abdul-Rahim said ahead of his coaching debut on Halloween against the Fighting Illini (noon, FS1). “We definitely want you guys to see a different side of our young men. But it starts with just the love of football.”
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In his first week on the job, Abdul-Rahim — formerly the team’s cornerbacks coach before being promoted twice last week after Locksley’s dismissal Oct. 21 — said he’s spent time “trying to condense” Maryland’s game plan and “refining” what the Terrapins (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) do on defense.
“I think the big thing for me the first week was was getting to know these young men on [offense]. You know, the corner coach don’t really talk to the offensive line too much, so it was more about me meeting with them,” Abdul-Rahim said. “I met with pretty much all the starters and most of the backups … just to see where they are and see what they like to do, see what see what type of scheme or how they see themselves. I think that’s important.”
Abdul-Rahim has already established some mantras he wants the Terrapins to adopt. The foremost? “VTE.”
“Violence, technique and effort,” edge rusher Sidney Stewart explained. “At the end of the day, we got five more games left. This college football stuff goes by fast, so whether you’re playing for whatever reason, you’ve got to attack these last five games. And if you attack it, then you have an opportunity to win.”
Stewart is someone who sees the transition from Locksley to Abdul-Rahim, while still a shock to the team, also as an opportunity.
“I would say it’s kind of like a new school feeling. Like you may not necessarily wanted to transfer schools or to move to a new area to go to a new zone school, but at the end of the day, like it’s a fresh new feeling, and it kind of makes you put your best foot forward,” Stewart said. “It’s not necessarily the way we wanted things to go, but at the end of the day, yeah, there is kind of a new freshness to the team, and it’s exciting.”
Freshness may be in store for Maryland’s offense. Since 2019, it’s long been defined and led by Locksley, with a myriad of coordinators who conducted it during his eight-year tenure to varying results. Now, the entirety of the Terrapins’ offensive identity is fully in the hands of offensive coordinator Clint Trickett, a former college quarterback who led a prolific offense at Jacksonville State last season before coming to Maryland.
“We’re going to be a lot more situational driven, and I think I can help Clint and the other offensive coaches with just understanding on the minus side what a second and 10 is,” Abdul-Rahim said. “Obviously they know that, but we’re going to be a little bit more intentional in practice with situations where we can kind of talk through those processes as as a group … I think [Trickett] does a great job. I think he has a very innovative mind.”
Getting back to the basics should lead to better decision making for quarterback Malik Washington, who’s tied for the Big Ten lead for interceptions with six.
“In the beginning, we did a great job of not turning the football over, and that’s something we kind of got away from for two weeks there. I take that on me as a leader of the offense, not turning the football over,” Washington said.
There may be an opportunity for him to right his sophomore season against the Illini (4-3, 2-2), who allow 248 yards passing per game, second worst in the conference. The key to that, Washington said, is having better starts to drives.
“When that first and 10 play kind of gets away from us and becomes second and 10 or second and long it makes it a little bit harder for us as offense,” Washington said. “So those are things we kind of emphasized throughout the bye.”
After QB Katin Houser’s injury three weeks ago, Illinois freshman Michael Clayton II will be making only his second start. He exceeded expectations in his first, riding an 11-of-18, two touchdown performance to Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors in a win over Oregon. Clayton will face the conference’s worst scoring defense, with Maryland tied with Rutgers for last, allowing 33.3 points per game.
“They have some good receivers. Young quarterback, talented dude,” Stewart said. “I mean, they present a lot of the same challenges that other teams have before, and we’re just trying to do our best job at poking holes in them.”
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