While Maryland awaits the expected but official announcement from former Georgetown guard Donald Carey to return to college, Terp fans got big news earlier this week when former Charlotte guard Jahmir Young announced his official decision to return to college for one more season.
Maryland pounced on the 6-foot-1, 185-pound guard after entering the transfer portal back on April 7 and a big reason why the Terps were first to get him on campus was due to his relationship with assistant Tony Skinn, the first assistant announced on head coach Kevin Willard’s staff. Young called the new Terps’ staff “real genuine people” and that relationship paved the way for him to land in College Park. “I'm really close with Tony Skinn on the staff. I just felt like his confidence in me was on a different level,” Young told GCR. “That was big for me. I feel like I could trust them and that was the biggest thing for me.” While awaiting feedback from pro scouts on his stay-or-go decision, Young’s trust in Willard’s vision and play style made it an ideal fit to run the Terps’ offense for the 2022-23 season.
“The biggest thing for me was just really who can really help me get to the next level and what would I have to do to get to the next level at this point. And it was really just being able to perform at a higher level to where it’ll be more exposure and I feel like Kevin Willard was great. He was very transparent with me. I feel like he was confident, he had a lot of confidence in me, which was huge, and it just felt like not only [I’m] coming home to play at home yet, I’m excited for that, but it really just felt [like] home outside of that. I like his staff.”
Maryland announced the signing of Young back on May 3 then confirmed his return to college on Wednesday to become the first DeMatha graduate to join the program since Travis Garrison ahead of the 2002-03 season. Young admitted that he “did want to go [to Maryland] out of high school but just the way everything fell into place, it just wasn’t the best situation at the time.” Now donning a Terrapin uniform this fall, he has high aspirations for his career as a Terp.
“Definitely winning but definitely individual goals, also. I want to be one of the best players in the Big Ten, first team Big Ten, stuff like that.” With a near-42 inch vertical, Young prided himself on “being able to get past, as we would say, bigger guys,” but he won’t have to do it alone. While Young runs the offense, Carey is expected to start alongside him next season to produce a veteran backcourt and the two have been able to begin building their relationship.
“I actually didn't know him before he committed but we've talked since he's committed and we're building our relationship. So, I'm excited to be able to share the backcourt with him. I met a couple of guys on the team, I don't know them very well. I'm sure I’ll probably get to know them very well pretty soon, but I'm just excited to be able to build that chemistry with all of my teammates.”
While Maryland awaits the final decision from coveted portal target Efe Abogidi, Willard and the Terps have two vacant scholarships for the 2022-23 season.
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