COLLEGE PARK — Roman Hemby was featured in Maryland’s gameday program for Saturday’s season opener against Buffalo. In the questionnaire of some of the Edgewood native’s favorite things, he says a bucket-list sporting event for him to attend is “anything NASCAR.”
With the kind of speed the redshirt freshman laid down against the Bulls, someone at Daytona or elsewhere should invite him to not just watch, but drive one of those stock cars.
“Every time I go out there, I kind of have the mindset to prove myself right,” Hemby said, “and try to make the play that can change the game.”
He did that by opening the scoring in both halves with lengthy, electrifying touchdown runs and finished with 114 yards as Maryland moved past a sluggish first half to beat Buffalo in their season opener, 31-10.
His score on the second play of the second half, an 80-yard sprint through a huge hole opened up by center Johari Branch and right guard Spencer Anderson, was Maryland’s longest rushing touchdown in three seasons and helped them rebound from an unexpectedly dull offensive performance in the first 40 minutes.
“I took my steps, my steps that I normally take on that play,” Hemby said in describing the run. “and I came through the mesh, got the ball, and I see nothing but daylight, really. I saw that the corner kind of hadn’t seen me yet. So, I knew I could take my opportunity to try to get [between the] hash numbers and sideline trying to make a home-run play, and it ended up working out for me.”
Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa looked to have a case of the jitters in his maiden performance of 2022. The Hawaiian finished 24-of-34 passing with 290 yards and an interception. He overthrew a couple of open targets, led his receivers too far on multiple balls, and didn’t settle into a comfortable rhythm most of the day.
“It’s just game one timing, being in a live game situation,” Locksley said of Tagovailoa’s day. “I expect him to continue to get better like everybody else from game one to game two.”
Running the football was an emphasis in training camp, and the young group impressed, scoring all four Terrapin touchdowns. Along with Hemby, fellow redshirt freshman Antwain Littleton added two short rushing scores to help Maryland secure its 10th-straight non-conference season-opening win. Locksley was impressed with his backs, but admitted their 13 combined touches was far fewer than intended.
“In a perfect world, Roman needs 20 and Antwaine needs about 10 to 15, and the only way you can get that is by being good on third down,” Locksley said. “I’m going to keep harping that we’ve got to become better at situational football.”
Hemby made it a point to note Littleton’s performance and how tight and complimentary of a group his unit is.
“Because we’re all young and we’ve all got a lot to prove at the same time, I feel like whoever has a hot hand on any given day can go out there and do whatever we plan to do,” Hemby said. “So seeing him make some runs, it’s not really anything new to me because he does it all the time during the week.”
Maryland scored with a lightning-quick initial drive, capped off by Hemby shedding a tackler down the right sideline for a 33-yard touchdown. The five-play set featured chunk plays from the get-go, including an end-around to wide receiver Rakim Jarrett — who switched to No. 1 this season from No. 5 — that went for 25 yards on Maryland’s first offensive play.
The effervescence of that first score fizzed as the half went on, as the Terrapins settled into a pattern of fits-and-starts for their next several drives.
It kicked back up early in the second quarter — Tarheeb Still returned a short Bulls punt to the Buffalo 31, and Antwaine Littleton scored three plays later to extend Maryland’s lead, 14-0 — but the half was inconsistent by Maryland’s offensive standards in the Tagovailoa era. The Terrapins were penalized six times in the half for 57 yards (of their eight on the day), something that was an issue in multiple games last season.
“Obviously, with game one, there’s a lot of things we’ve still got to get corrected, as I expect us to,” Locksley said.
District native Dontay Demus made his return to action after a season-ending knee injury in 2021, catching 3 balls for 23 yards. But it was his receiving mate Jeshaun Jones — returning from the same circumstances — who impressed along with Hemby, totaling 70 yards on 4 grabs.
His signature catch of the day went for 35 yards in the second quarter as he hauled in a Tagovailoa pass over the middle near midfield, then juked Buffalo defenders like a joystick — in and out, up and down — up the left sideline. It’s an appropriate comparison, given that’s what Demus calls him.
“Jeshaun, I call him the human joystick if you guys didn’t know that,” Demus said with a smile. “Six, he’s a great competitor, and he stays on his craft and everything and I love what he does with the ball.”
Jarrett secured his fifth career 100-yard receiving day — 6 catches, 110 yards — and converted a fourth down with a 35-yard catch-and-run that extended what would become Maryland’s final scoring drive, capped with Littleton’s second touchdown.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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