Maryland’s football team is set to open their 2026 season on Saturday night, when they host Hampton in College Park for the first-ever meeting between the two schools. One week later, they’ll travel north to East Hartford, CT for a matchup with UConn before returning home for their biggest non-conference game of the season against Virginia Tech on September 19th. Following two consecutive 4-8 (1-8 Big Ten Conference) seasons, the Terrapins will be looking for a strong start to this year’s campaign.
Throughout head coach Michael Locksley’s tenure in College Park, Maryland has dominated the months of August and September, compiling a 21-5 record before the calendar flips to October. They’ll likely be heavily favored in their first two games against Hampton and UConn, opening as 45.5-point favorites against the Pirates this weekend. These games ought to provide Locksley with the opportunity to get a number of different players on the field and give his offense some time to gain comfortability with new offensive coordinator Clint Trickett’s scheme.
Speaking of Trickett, it’ll be interesting to see what his offense looks like to begin this season. Under Pep Hamilton last year, Maryland ran a very pro-style scheme with quarterback Malik Washington spending a significant amount of time under center and not using much tempo. This was a clear departure from Locksley’s preferred scheme, which is much more spread out and uses tempo as a tool to keep opposing defenses off-guard. Trickett’s offense seems much more in line with these preferences, as he’s successfully blended Air Raid passing principles with a fast-paced rushing attack at both Marshall and Jacksonville State. Expect to see the offense moving much more quickly, and for Washington to use his legs as a weapon more often.
Defensively, Locksley will be hoping that continuity leads to success as defensive coordinator Ted Monachino enters his second season working with players like Sidney Stewart, Daniel Wingate, Trey Reddick, Jamare Glasker, and Messiah Delhomme. His scheme is typically aggressive, preferring to play man coverage on the outside with a number of exotic blitz packages. He’ll also mix up his zone coverages, using a combination of one and two-high safety looks with late rotations common to confuse opposing quarterbacks.
Maryland’s new special teams coordinator is Matt Barnes, and he’ll have two of the better specialists in the conference to work with this season. Sean O’Haire returns for his second year as the Terrapins’ starting kicker, after converting 21 of his 24 field goal attempts and earning First Team All-Big Ten honors in 2025. Bryce McFerson is back for his third season in College Park, and earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors last year after putting together the sixth-best punting average in program history.
Game One: Hampton Pirates
Maryland has faced off against an FCS opponent five times under Locksley, and has won those games by an average of 43.6 points. Last season, they beat Towson by a score of 44-17 in their third game of the season. However, despite what should be a clear advantage in the trenches, they haven’t run for more than 175 yards in their last three matchups against FCS teams. Locksley and Trickett have made it clear that they’ve placed a large emphasis on running the ball more efficiently this season, so look for them to pound the rock early and often on Saturday night.
On the opposite side of the ball, Maryland’s defensive front ought to have a significant advantage in the trenches. Defensive coordinator Ted Monachino will likely experiment with a handful of different combinations as he attempts to replace starting pass-rusher Zahir Mathis who suffered a season-ending injury during practice last month. Five-star phenom Zion Elee is set to play a significant role immediately, and having success getting to the quarterback right off the bat would do wonders for his confidence. Monachino received a major boost earlier this week, when Locksley announced that starting cornerback Dontay Joyner, who’d been dismissed from the team following his arrest in June on harassment-related charges, would be returning to the team after all for the 2026 season. After so much time away from the team during the summer, he’ll likely need to be eased back into a starting role.
Game Two: UConn Huskies
Maryland’s first test against an FBS opponent in 2026 will come in East Hartford, where they haven’t played since 2013. UConn has a new head coach in Jason Candle after Jim Mora left for Colorado State after leading the Huskies to a 9-4 record last season. Candle comes from Toledo, where he’d been on the coaching staff for 18 years including the last ten as head coach. As is typically the case when a coaching change occurs nowadays, their roster has been completely overhauled with nearly 60 additions in the transfer portal. Two of those additions were quarterbacks Jake Merklinger (Tennessee) and Kalieb Osborne (Toledo), who are still competing for the starting job prior to their season-opener against Lafayette.
It’s often difficult to know what to expect from a team like UConn whose entire roster has been turned upside down from last season. While Maryland will likely be heavily favored, it’ll be important for them to build on what ought to be a strong performance against Hampton and not allow the Huskies to hang around longer than they should.
Terps Analyst
Zack is a financial analyst for a defense contractor in Washington, DC. The Owings Mills native focuses most of his efforts on Maryland Football recruiting and individual coach and player pieces; but also covers Terps Basketball. He has established relationships with Big Ten beat reporters across the conference, which he utilizes in his game previews. Now a Sr. Terps Analyst for BSL, Zack can be reached at: zack.kiesel@baltimoresportsandlife.com.