After spending years working on the foundation of the 2025 class, head coach Mike Locksley and Maryland football will welcome the first batch of its signees to campus with eleven early enrollees set to arrive in College Park on Monday.
QB Malik Washington, OT Jaylen Gilchrist, RB Iverson Howard and SAF Messiah Delhomme headline the incoming freshmen with all but two of the signees hailing from the DMV. Maryland inked a consensus top-35 class with five four-star prospects including a pair of top-150 prospects, per On3's final 2025 rankings.
Maryland was able to generate momentum heading into official visit season with in-state targets Jayden Shipps and Justin DeVaughn silently committing before the second official visit weekend drew commitments from all but two visitors. Maryland was able to build on their buzz through the month with Washington announcing his decision to stay home in late June over his remaining finalists – Virginia Tech, Syracuse and UCF.
“It really is because I’ve always felt comfortable,” Washington told IBG. “I like the coaching staff and the offense. It’s just a place that I feel like I can see myself for the next four years.”
Washington then became a key piece in Maryland’s recruiting efforts the rest of the way as assistant Latrell Scott paved the way to land four-stars Jaylen Gilchrist and Messiah Delhomme as the freshmen class now look to make an immediate impact in 2025.
“Obviously, the 2025 class for us here at Maryland is a special class, one that I believe will elevate the Maryland football program,” Locksley said on signing day in December. “A lot of these guys we started recruiting before we started that three-year run. Some of the phone calls I had today are guys that I can remember starting their process as eighth graders. I can remember Bryce Jenkins playing for the White Oak team that went down to Florida to play in the championship game, talking and offering him as an eighth grader. I can remember Malik [Washington] over there with the Maryland Heat as an eighth grader. And so a lot of these guys made a decision to come to Maryland prior to or started the process prior to the three-year run that we had up to this season. And the players that we have here have left a really good runway for our incoming class. When I talk about this class elevating, you can't elevate without separating. And so when you think about separating, you think that the last three, four classes that have come through here have really left a foundation that we are going to be able to build on. And now, with this new college football landscape, we're afforded an opportunity to build on it and this class will give us just that.”
While signees like TE JT Taggart, LB Travares Daniels and RB Bud Coombs headline the next batch of enrollees in June, Maryland isn’t done in the 2025 cycle as they’re in the mix for Imhotep (Pa.) four-star edge Zahir Mathis and in line to draw the last official visit after he and Washington built a rapport at the Under Armour All-American game, boosting the Terps’ chances.
Full list of early enrollees
SAF Messiah Delhomme
OT Jaylen Gilchrist
QB Jackson Hamilton
RB Iverson Howard
DL Bryce Jenkins
DL Dante Recker
LB CJ Smith
WR Zymear Smith
DL Sidney Stewart
OLB Nahsir Taylor
QB Malik Washington
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