Know Your 2018 Penn State Football Enemy: Maryland

First and foremost before I begin my Penn State football preview for Maryland, Everyone here at VBR sends our condolences to the family of Jordan McNair.

It didn’t seem right to talk about football at the start, because life is so much more important than a game. Maryland’s football program is going through a difficult time. Penn State football will play the Terrapins in the final week of the season, but the preview shouldn’t start with X’s and O’s. My thoughts and prayers go out to the McNair family and the team.

Offensive Preview

The entire season hinges on two electrifying quarterbacks for the Maryland Terrapins. Tyrell Pigrome and Kasim Hill. Both players are exciting dual threat quarterbacks that suffered season-ending injuries by week three.

In Pigrome’s season-opening start of 2017, he had the Terrapins up on the Texas Longhorns before suffering a torn ACL. He accounted for three scores and 200-plus yards of offense.

Hill managed to secure the win and pick up the win the following week against Towson before seeing his season come to an end against UCF with the same injury. Hill was highly efficient in his time at starting quarterback accounting for 290 total yards of offense and three touchdowns against zero interceptions. He completed 18-of-21 passes on the season.

Both will be ready for the 2018 season. Either way, the Terrapins likely can’t go wrong with who they choose. The offense is in good hands with two experienced signal callers. Not to mention, they’ll add an extra element on the ground, as leading rushers Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison back. They combined for 1,497 yards and eight touchdowns on 5.5 yards per carry.

Those two mixed with Pigrome/Hill should make up a blazing-fast ground game. The two quarterbacks will have the second-leading receiver returning in Taivon Jacobs. He caught 47 passes for 553 yards and five touchdowns last year. He’ll be a player to watch as he moves to the No. 1 spot.

All this offensive firepower has a stout line up front. All five starters are back up front, meaning this offense is highly-underrated. Starting from the left tackle, Derwin, Gray Sean Christie, Brendan Moore, Terrance Davis and Damian Prince are all back.

Defensive Preview

This team returns four of its top seven tacklers from last year, including three from the defensive secondary. The backend surrendered just 228.6 passing yards per game one a sub-60 percent completion rate.

Defensive back Antoine Brooks is the active leading tackler with 77 total stops last year. He made plays in the backfield with 9.5 tackles for loss and two interceptions as well. He’ll lead the secondary production-wise while, Darnell Savage and RaVon Davis also return as starters. Savage is back at free safety. He tied for the team-lead last year in interceptions with three.

Outside of those three, Isaiah Davis keys the linebackers. He has 70 tackles to his résumé from last year. Jesse Aniebonam will be the leader on the defensive line. After suffering a season-ending ankle injury last year. He’s back looking for a similar season to 2016, where he recorded 46 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss and nine sacks in that year.

Verdict

Penn State football will need to score a lot of points to come away with a win in the final week. Trace McSorley and the offense must score points like they did in last year’s laugher. McSorley and company rolled up a 66-3 win at Maryland. The team will need that production once again.