Analyst tabs Jordan Phillips as Big Ten’s “most athletic lineman” during BTN camp tour
- Ahmed Ghafir
- Aug 22, 2024
- 2 min read
The college football season officially kicks off in one day as Florida State-Georgia Tech open the slate in Dublin, while Maryland football is now eight days away from opening its season against UConn inside SECU Stadium. The biggest question for Maryland fans is how the quarterback battle will shake out in year one of the post-Taulia Tagovailoa era as BTN analyst Howard Griffith pointed back to MJ Morris and Billy Edwards Jr. being able to lead the Terps’ offense into the season.
“Taking care of the football and being able to lead the team, and the leading the team part is something that you really can’t you don’t necessarily see, but they’re following these guys,” Griffith added. “So the day we were there, I thought [Billy] Edwards played outstanding, but [MJ] Morris brings a little different thing. So I would not be surprised if they had a couple different packages built. I know you never want to have multiple packages or multiple schemes, but this could be a situation where this thing could play out through the season. Hopefully they can make a decision soon, at least for Terp fans. But if it plays out during the year or the first couple of games, I think Maryland will still be okay.”
Locksley, of course, pointed to the quarterback battle as a one-man job after wrapping up fall camp earlier this week. “There won’t be a guy looking over his shoulder and I wouldn’t be surprised to see us continue to develop some guys that we feel can make our team better,” he added.
While the offensive side of the ball will look to quiet the critics, the defensive side of the ball has had all the buzz through fall camp with defensive lineman Jordan Phillips frequently credited as a tone setter during offseason workouts. After playing in just three games during his lone season at Tennessee, Phillips started in ten and registered 28 tackles in his first season with the program, but he’s carried the tag as a potential difference-maker all summer. Heading into his second season with the program, Phillips has drawn NFL-buzz as the program’s likely next draft pick in the trenches and after making their way through the Big Ten, Griffith had lofty praise for the Florida native.
“I’m gonna tell you what they’ve got a player, Jordan Phillips. He’s probably the most athletic lineman I saw all camp tour. There is nothing that he can’t do, and I know that the numbers for interior defensive linemen never show up in the stat sheet, but he’s going to cause problems. There’s no way you can single block him…he’s going to command double teams, and he’s going to make some huge plays for this team this year on the defensive side.”
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