COLLEGE PARK, Md. — After Maryland’s 73-51 second-round NCAA Tournament loss to No. 1 seed Alabama last March in which the Terps were out-rebounded by the Crimson Tide 44-32, one thing became abundantly clear to head coach Kevin Willard: the Terps needed to get more athletic and more physical.

Willard wasted little time in hitting the transfer portal to find a player who could immediately add an element of physicality and athleticism that had previously been missing.

That player was Indiana transfer Jordan Geronimo.

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Geronimo joins the Terps after spending the past three seasons at Indiana, where he began his college career. The redshirt junior forward appeared in 27 games for the Hoosiers last season, averaging 4.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12.4 minutes of action per game.

Despite his somewhat low usage last season, Geronimo was still able to show off his elite athleticism, averaging just under one blocked shot per game and producing multiple highlight-worthy dunks.

"After the loss to Alabama, the biggest thing that I realized is that we just weren't athletic enough at times. And Alabama was probably the most athletic team in the country last year so it was a little bit of a mismatch," said Willard. “We really wanted to have someone that knew how to play the game, but at the same time could really help us athletically. And Jordan, although he's not 6-11, Jordan is as athletic of a player as I've seen in a while."

Despite standing at just 6-foot-6, Geronimo offers the Terps tremendous versatility on both ends of the floor with the ability to play multiple spots on both offense and defense. His versatility was on full display during Maryland's preseason scrimmage against Cincinnati, according to Willard.

"We played him at the five at Cincinnati the other day and he was great," Willard said. "I can play him at the four, I can play him at the three. Defensively, I can play him one through five. I call him the Swiss-army knife, he can do a little bit of everything. And he's really helped us in the fact that he knows the league, he's been through it. And so I think any time you can get someone that understands this level of college basketball and how physical and how much of a grind this league is, he's been great because he understands what's been going on."

Willard knew that Geronimo was going to be a “game-changer” for the Terps, so much so that Maryland shortened its practices because of increased physicality. There hasn’t been a single practice longer than an hour and 26 minutes.

Geronimo knows that his presence at practice helps prepare the newcomers for gritty conference games.

“Being big in the Big Ten, you have to be physical,” Geronimo said. “In practice, I’m just trying to prepare the younger guys and guys who don’t know what the Big Ten is like and how it is, whether it's setting hard screens or whether it’s a box out, that’s how I bring physicality to the game.”

Geronimo’s impact has been team-wide, as reserve point guard Jahari Long said that the Terps are very aggressive on defense this year. Donta Scott, who is entering his fifth season with Maryland, said that he’s seen the most dunks in practice than ever before.

Not only does the explosive forward bring athleticism and versatility to the team, but both Willard and Scott have said that Geronimo has been shooting the ball extremely well since joining the Terps.

“He’s more than just an active guy, he’s more than just a person to go out there and get rebounds,” Scott said. “He’s shown in practice that he can knock down shots all the time and he’s just a really good competitor.”

Geronimo, along with freshmen DeShawn Harris-Smith and Jamie Kaiser all hope to bring new elements to the Terps this season as they look to advance past the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

“Excited about getting the season started,” Willard said. “It’s been a really, really good preseason, guys have been energetic and working hard.”

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