Expectations for Maryland in Mike Locksley’s second season at the helm were already hard to peg. Add in the uncertainties brought on by a pandemic and a conference-only schedule, and it’s that much harder to project what type of growth we might see from the Terps this year.

But one position with high hopes in College Park is wide receiver.

Returning several upperclassmen, getting redshirt sophomore Jeshaun Jones back from injury, and welcoming a handful of talented freshmen has Maryland’s wide receiver room as stacked as any in the Big Ten.

And from what Terps junior wideout Brian Cobbs has seen from his unit so far in practice, he believes Maryland’s receivers are ready to live up to the hype.

“Explosive, smart, strong, physical, and just exciting,” Cobbs said when describing Maryland’s receiving corps. “From the first guy we have to the last guy we have, it doesn’t matter who coach Joker [Phillips] throws out there in any combination or any personnel package, we’re going to make a play. So that’s the biggest thing. I don’t have doubts about anyone in the room. We all bring different things to the table and we all bring things in a unique way that can contribute to the offense and make this offense special.”

But Terps fans have the right to be skeptical. They’ve seen many talented wide receivers pass through the program in the past, but a large portion of that crop had to play with subpar, or worse, quarterback play throughout their careers.

But Maryland’s current quarterback situation also lends itself to the optimism surrounding the receiving corps.

While Locksley has yet to pick a starting quarterback between redshirt freshman Lance Legendre and Alabama transfer sophomore Taulia Tagovailoa, both figure to have more upside than the Terps’ signal callers of recent memory and both have put in the work this offseason to develop chemistry with their array of talented pass-catchers.

“They know where to throw the ball and we know where they want the ball, so that really helps with the offense. It’s really just looking like a really efficient machine,” Cobbs said. “They know that when they put it in the air there’s no hesitation or anything. They trust that we’re going to win the one-on-one matchup. So no matter what the play call is they feel like they can win so they’re going to let it go. And our coaches having trust in the quarterbacks and having trust in us as well are never going to get mad at the quarterback for taking those shots because they know it’s a high percentage that we’re going to come down with it.”

Maryland’s quarterbacks were persistent in their pursuit of rapport with their receivers. This was particularly important for a player like Jones, who is getting his football legs back under him after recovering from a torn ACL he suffered early last season.

“It was almost every day it felt like with one of them calling or texting me and asking to go throw or let’s go do something like run routes or just do the top of the routes if you don’t feel like running or just do intermediate routes because my arm is a little sore,” Jones said. “So it was just cool to see that and it was cool that they actually want it that bad.”

Jones’ road to recovery wasn’t easy and it almost led to a canceled 2020 season, which would have meant nearly two years off for the sophomore who burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2018.

After recording a passing, receiving, and rushing touchdown against Texas in his first collegiate game ever, Jones quickly had a key role in Maryland’s offense. Jones, who said he wasn’t 100% until about a month ago, is eager to get back to form and contribute heavily to the Terps’ offense one again.

“I feel great. I’m actually just happy to be out there. I’m just happy to be out there and finally put the pads on,”Jones said. “This is the longest I’ve gone without playing football since I started playing football, so I’m just blessed for the opportunity to be back out there.

“With everything that’s going on, I was looking at it like, ‘Dang, I won’t be able to play football for two whole years and that would be two years off.’ And now that I have this opportunity now, I’m just blessed. We’re all blessed to be here and be able to do this.”

Jones’ rehabbing efforts have not gone unnoticed by his coaches and teammates.

Junior wideout and Maryland’s leading receiver from last season, Dontay Demus Jr., hopes to build off of a breakout sophomore campaign and is happy to have Jones back in the fold.

“You can see how [Jones] has come back and really dedicated himself and how he really wanted to get back on the field with us,” Demus said. “He has spent a lot of good time being healthy in the offseason, just making sure that he’s ready to play. He’s the same old guy to me. He brings that intensity. He catches a lot of balls. He’s doing a lot of things.”

Much like how Jones started his collegiate career strong, the Terps are expecting big things from incoming freshman Rakim Jarrett, who is Maryland’s highest-rated offensive recruit since Stefon Diggs and has been turning heads in practice so far.

Despite being listed as a backup in the initial two deep, it’s only a matter of time before Jarrett is making a name for himself in College Park.

“That young guy is going to be special here,” Jones said. “He’s explosive. He does everything that we’ve pretty much seen from him in high school — he’s very smooth, very sudden, and I can’t wait to watch him grow. I feel like I’m lucky to be an ‘older guy’ in the room and someone he can come to if he needs something. I feel like he’s going to help our room get better and we’re going to help him. So I feel like he’s a great addition to our receivers room.”

Cobbs echoed Jones’ sentiment about Jarrett and is excited to see the blue-chip freshman in action on Saturday.

“Huge plays,” Cobbs said when asked what we can expect from Jarrett. “He has really strong hands at the catch point and is really creative within his routes so having him on the field in different personnel packages we know wherever the ball is he’s going to come down with it, whether it’s a one-handed catch or jumping over a defender or something like that. So it’s really exciting to see him out there.”

Maryland hasn’t had a wide receiver break 1,000 receiving yards since D.J. Moore in 2017. If it doesn’t happen this year, it likely will be more a result of too many mouths to feed rather than a talent issue.

But too many good pass-catchers to get the ball to is a good problem to have, and if the Terps’ quarterback play takes the next step, there could be several all-conference caliber performances by Maryland wide receivers this season.