TJ Chapman
Lead Columnist, Editor
The 2025 season is one month old. It’s clear that the top freshman quarterback in the country is Maryland’s Malik Washington. Some players are performing well. Others have received a lot of hype. However, none have played as well as Washington.
Coming out of spring practices, it seemed that Washington was behind both Justyn Martin and Khristian Martin. However, that changed in fall camp. Head coach Mike Locksley named Washington the starter on August 30, 2025.
Heading into game No. 5 for Maryland this Saturday, they will play against Washington. Maryland’s Washington has thrown for 1,038 yards. He has 8 TDs and only 1 INT. Washington has only been sacked once this season.
The competition, admittedly, has not been great. However, Washington’s first road test came at Wisconsin, a difficult place to play. Washington won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for his performance against the Badgers. (18-34, 265, 1 TD passing 1 TD rushing).
Since the spring, Michigan’s Bryce Underwood has garnered all of the attention. Underwood was a 5-Star recruit. He stepped into a situation at Michigan where he knew he could win the starting job. For the season, Underwood has been “protected” by questionable play-calling by the Wolverines’ staff. Underwood has 733 passing yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT. He also has 169 rushing yards and 3 rushing TDs.
Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele didn’t have the attention that Underwood or Washington had, but he has everyone’s attention now. Sagapolutele has thrown for 1,242 yards with 8 TDs and 4 INTs in five games this season. He has also been sacked 6 times.
But Washington leads freshman QBs with an average of 259.5 passing yards per game. His 1,038 passing yards after four games are the most by a true freshman QB since Jayden Daniels had 1,073 in 2019 for Arizona State.
This year, Locksley and his staff have built a solid team around the freshman QB. RBs DeJuan Williams and Nolan Ray are veterans who can carry the workload in the run game.
WRs Shaleak Knotts, Octavian Smith, Jr. and Jalil Farooq have combined for 47 catches for 725 yards and 5 TDs. On defense, two more true freshmen have stood out in DL’s Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis. The dynamic duo has combined for 29 tackles and 6.5 sacks.
While there are times when Washington has made some “freshman” mistakes, he has also displayed a calmness similar to that of a veteran. Early in the Wisconsin game, Washington was putting a lot of zip on his passes, even ones that should have been thrown with a little touch. Think Joe Milton at Tennessee.
However, Washington calmed down and ran head coach Mike Locksley’s offense to a Big Ten road win. When needed, you see the zip on Washington’s passes. He has a cannon for an arm.
One of the many things that endears Washington to Maryland fans is that he is a local kid. Washington grew up in Glen Burnie, MD, about 35 minutes from the Maryland campus. Recently, Washington signed an NIL deal with Pepsi and Ledo Pizza.
Washington will make the Terps a dangerous out in the Big Ten. This will continue if he stays at Maryland for the next three years. Washington, combined with the weapons Locksley has on offense, will put up yards and points at will. If Washington and Maryland keep on the current pace, we may be discussing the Terps getting into the playoff conversation.
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