It’s homecoming week as Maryland returns to College Park to face a struggling Illinois team before their bye. Here’s this week’s Terps Top Three notebook ahead of Saturday’s matchup with the Fighting Illini (3:30 p.m., NBC)
Quiet confidence: Linebacker Jaishawn Barham’s skill on the field is undeniable just from watching him play — “The Terminator,” as Locksley calls him. But the sophomore has also become a leader on Maryland’s defense, even if he’s not the loudest voice in the room.
“We joke and I love to joke about the personality traits he has. He is very machine-like, very methodical in everything he does,” Locksley said, “but if you get to know him, the kid is a riot. Like he has a kind of weird, kind of funny sense of humor.”
One of those light-hearted instances came up on Maryland’s first road trip of the season at Michigan State.
“You know, he very rarely talks to anybody in our program. And I come back out after we leave the stadium walk on Friday, and I walk out to [the] bus … and he’s having a full-blown conversation with a 70-year-old White guy with a Maryland hat on [driving the bus]. I think I heard him ask him, ‘Who you rooting for tomorrow?’ And obviously the guy’s from up there, and he’s like, ‘Well, I’m not rooting for anybody,’ and [Barham’s] like, ’Come on, man!’” Locksley said. “Here he is having a full-blown conversation, and I’m blown away. So he communicates when he wants to.”
The District Heights-born Barham hasn’t appeared before reporters during the week or following a game this season, a nod to his quieter personality, but his teammates don’t mistake his silence for weakness.
“He’s one of those guys that, as I always say, is part of the ‘Special Forces,’ meaning that if I need something done within this team and to get messaging across … that’s the type of impact he has because he’s one of those kinds of leaders that he doesn’t throw his weight around, but they know,” Locksley said.
Bruising backfield: Illinois (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) comes in with the worst record in the conference, a season that’s been derailed in part due to injuries at key positions. At running back, that’s included the loss of Josh McCray for the season and Reggie Love, who has been banged up and missed the Illini’s game at Purdue two weeks ago.
Those setbacks have allowed Illini back Kaden Feagin to assume a part in an anemic Illinois offense. The freshman ran for 85 yards on 11 carries in Love’s absence against the Boilermakers, and his notable size at the position — 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds — can cause problems.
“He is a young player, but like you said, really heavy-handed as a runner,” Maryland coach Mike Locksley said Thursday. “Great balance and body control. He’s a contact runner, meaning he has the ability to run through the contact.”
Locksley compared Feagin to another Big Ten West back: 6-foot, 200-pound Purdue sophomore Devin Mockobee, who the Terrapins faced last year. Maryland is able to prepare for Feagin’s size, Locksley said, by using 6-foot-1, 232-pounder Antwain Littleton against the first-team defense.
“We face that quite a bit because we have [that size] in Antwain Littleton, and we do good-on-good [practices], and he’s a powerful load,” Locksley said. “It’s one of the benefits of us doing team run where we take good-on-good reps.”
Early bowling: A win Saturday will make the Terrapins (5-1, 2-1) bowl-eligible at the earliest point in a season since 2001. If Maryland wins, Locksley said he’ll celebrate it with his players less as the conclusion of a process and more as proof that what they’re doing is working.
“I do think with this day and age of the types of kids we deal with, the ability to show the positives of ‘this is what you’ve done and this is what you’ve earned’ to me will validate to them the importance of the buy in, and we feel like we have that complete buy in,” Locksley said.
Two seasons ago, it took every last one of Maryland’s 12 games to reach that plateau. Back then, getting to six wins was significant. For where this program is now, though, it’s not the be-all, end-all.
“To me, you deal with the present more than we do reflecting on the past and where we have been, because this is a natural progression of our program, and to me, we’re right on track of where we want to be and should be,” Locksley said.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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