Michigan Football: Everything you need to know about Maryland

Offense

Quarterback Josh Jackson was destined for the NFL following a freshman season at Virginia Tech, that is until the injury bug bit him in the third game of his sophomore year. Still, as the 12th ranked dual-threat QB from 2016 class and a new entry into the transfer portal, Jackson was heavily targeted and decided to call Maryland his next home.

Interestingly enough, Jackson’s first home is not far from where his weekends opponent’s call home for their four years of eligibility. Josh is a native of Saline, a suburb of Ann Arbor, and his dad Fred Jackson, is a longtime former Michigan assistant, and his brother Jeremy, played for the Wolverines.

Josh, however, never received a scholarship offer and found himself heading to the Blacksburg, where he won the starting job and threw for nearly 3,000 yards as a true freshman.

Fast-forward two years, and we find Josh in a heated quarterback battle on a team that was shutout once this season and has barely shown a sign of a pulse in other games. As a three-win team with upcoming games against the Wolverines, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Michigan State, there doesn’t appear to be any chance at a bowl game this year under the first-year head coach.

The worst part about it is this isn’t a team that’s meant to be this bad. Sure, a year ago, they only managed five wins, but they have a 1,000-yard rusher in Anthony McFarland and a highly-touted quarterback. So far, Anthony has been held to under 400 yards with junior Javon Leake being the lone bright spot with 543 yards on the ground, averaging 8.2 yards-per-carry.

Outside, the real threat is Dontay Demus, and while he’s no K.J. Hamler, Demus can do some damage and he is a common target in the red zone.