After an offseason filled with uncertainty about who would fill the shoes left by Taulia Tagovailoa, it was his primary backup for the last two seasons who took the field for the opening drive as Billy Edwards Jr. made his third career start on Saturday vs. UConn.
It was an efficient day for the Virginia native, finishing 20-of-27 for 311 yards and a pair of touchdowns, recording his first 300-yard passing game of his career in the process. Head coach Mike Locksley noted his pleasure in Edwards’ ability to "controlling the offensive system", but for Edwards, Saturday felt like “a Tuesday, Wednesday practice for me.”
“This week I didn’t really try to change too much in terms of my preparation,” he told reporters following the win. “I feel like I’ve been here two seasons, had various roles throughout the two seasons and I feel like the one thing that’s always been the same is I treated myself and trained myself to be the starter, preparing Monday through Friday. I didn’t really try to change too much. I kind of told went back what I told myself [back] in 2022, my first year here of just like when I get in games, not make it bigger than it is.”
His opening drive nearly ended in the first turnover of the season before the replay overturned the call on the field, leading Edwards to finding Tai Felton for their first touchdown of the game. Maryland leaned on Edwards' run threat to set up a handful of designed QB runs as he finished the day with 39 yards on the ground on five attempts, but the Terps weren’t afraid to lean on their running backs to alleviate the pressure on the passing attack.
“We got into some certain looks that we like against them just to see. [It] was kind of a feeling out game for both sides, try to see what they liked against us and vice versa so it was good to get a few completions under my belt that first drive, the run game get going.”
That set the stage for 165 rushing yards in the first half, the most in the first half of a game under Mike Locksley, before finishing the day with 248 yards while averaging over five yards per carry. It marked the most rushing yards by Maryland since the win vs. Minnesota back in 2020. In fact, Maryland's 629 yards of total offense also marked the most total yards since amassing 675 yards in the same game during the COVID season.
While Edwards finished the day with just six attempts over 15 yards in the win, he knew he has skill players that can turn a short throw into a big gain – like Tai Felton showed.
"We tried to push the ball down the field. They were kind of taken away. With the intermediate game, I think that's where we came alive today. Throwing the ball to Tai, I had a good bender there to Dylan Wade right before the half. Just things like that where they were playing deep and didn't want to give up a ball over their head but we were able to take advantage of the stuff they left underneath. And then like you saw from Tai on that one long one, throw a six-yard ball he'll take it [75 yards]. Hats off to the skill around me."
Edwards wasn’t the only quarterback to take a snap in Saturday’s win as MJ Morris took the field for the opening drive of the second quarter, then on the third drive of the third quarter. After Edwards took back over on the next series, Morris returned to the game for the opening series of the fourth quarter before a late hit sidelined him for the rest of the day, ending his Maryland debut 3-of-4 passing for 13 yards along with 13 rushing yards on five carries. That let Cam Edge close out the game as he finished 4-of-6 for 57 yards before he connected with freshman RB Josiah McLaurin on a 24-yard catch-and-run to give McLaurin his first career touchdown.
Even though fans saw all three quarterbacks on Saturday, head coach Mike Locksley made clear who his starting quarterback was in 2024.
“It's Billy's job. He is our quarterback. There's no short leash,” Locksley said when asked about the quarterback snaps. “He's not looking over his shoulders. But when we have opportunities to play guys like MJ and some of these other players, we're going to play them because we understand that the Big Ten is a tough league, and we're going to eventually need these guys and only way they get better is by playing, not standing on the sideline.”
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