Levern Jacobs earns increased roll, has breakout game

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Fifth-year senior wideout Levern Jacobs led the Terps in receiving last season with 35 receptions for 425 yards and has more experience in College Park than any other pass catcher on Maryland’s roster. But those credentials didn’t secure a significant role in the offense for Jacobs in his first year playing under head coach D.J. Durkin.

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“We always compete, nothing is given to anybody,” Jacobs told reporters Oct. 18. “It doesn’t matter what your name is or what you had last year. [Durkin] makes you work each and every week. Your spot is always up for grabs. Nobody is a starter--nobody is a guaranteed starter.”

It was a slow start to the season for the 5-foot-11, 185-pound, Temple Hills, Md., native. In fact, through Maryland’s first five games, Jacobs had only reeled in three receptions for 20 yards. But the Suitland (Md.) High School grad had a performance last weekend against Minnesota that could jumpstart his year.

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With true freshman backup quarterback Ty Pigrome under center for the Terps, Jacobs led Maryland in receiving with 10 receptions for 82 yards at home against the Golden Gophers.

“It’s definitely a game I can build on,” Jacobs said. “I never thought I was out of it this season.”

The easy thing to do would be to point to Maryland’s change at quarterback from Perry Hills to Pigrome as to why Jacobs found himself more involved in the offense. After all, Jacobs did get a lot of his reps in fall camp with the second team, which many times had Pigrome running the show.

“The chemistry is good,” Jacobs said. “It’s the same with everybody because we’ve been working with all of the quarterbacks throughout camp, but even though we were rotating, a lot of my reps in camp were with the twos so I was with [Pigrome] a lot. So that’s probably it.”

However, as Jacobs alluded to, he has also had plenty of work in the past with Hills, so he is not concerned about any chemistry issues moving forward if the fellow fifth-year senior resumes his starting role.

“I’ve been with Perry the last two-three years, so my chemistry with him is pretty good too,” Jacobs said.

Besides, it’s not the quarterback platoon that has led to an uptick in Jacobs’ usage. If you ask the savvy wideout, he credits the Terps offense for doing what it’s supposed to do for his recent success.

“I don’t think anything was different,” Jacobs said. “We were just taking what Minnesota was giving us. The other teams were letting us run the ball on them so that’s what we did. This team let us throw the ball so that’s what we did. It’s all about adjustments and taking what the defense gives you--not forcing anything.”

Jacobs also cited one other reason for why he is being more trusted in the Terps’ offense.

Durkin has preached since arriving at Maryland about the need for wide receivers to block in order for the offense to run smoothly. Jacobs admitted that his head coach has been hard on him in practice about his blocking, but he is thankful for the push from Durkin because it helped him work on that area and become a more complete receiver that relishes the opportunity to help bust open big runs.

“I think [blocking] is pretty cool and exciting,” Jacobs said. “When I make a catch, you don’t really see too much excitement out of me because I think that’s what I need to do; that’s my job. My job is to make the catch. What sometimes [wide receivers] don’t understand is that your job is also to block and that’s one of the harder things to do. I just get excited when I do it now.”