Maryland Football Adds Standout JUCO Wide Receiver
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After the 2025 season came to a close, the Maryland Terrapins had three major holes to fill at the top of the wide receivers room.
Two of them were plugged by guys with starting D1 experience, and now a third transfer is joining them from the JUCO ranks.
Ejani Shakir, who spent the past two years at Independence Community College in Kansas, signed with the Terps ahead of spring camp.
Maryland Athletics made the announcement on Tuesday.
𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐄𝐃 ➡️ @ejani2thurlll is locked in to Terpsville 🔏
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) February 17, 2026
🔗 https://t.co/SNHCAg4xtQ pic.twitter.com/205t5PCTw1
The 6'0", 190 lbs. New Jersey native was originally a four-star prospect in the Class of 2023, but he decommitted from Penn State and later reclassified to the Class of 2024.
After a semester at East Coast Prep in Massachusetts, Shakir went the junior college route and enrolled at Independence.
In his first year, he played seven games and caught 14 passes for 155 yards.
Then last fall, Shakir hauled in 43 catches for 724 yards and six TDs across 10 games.
He was also a big part of the Pirates' special teams unit in 2025, returning 13 kicks for 327 yards (25.2 AVG) and 16 punts for 70 yards (4.4 AVG).
Shakir is joined by Na'eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding from Old Dominion and Chris Durr Jr. from Wyoming. They also have two years of eligibility.
Together, the trio will attempt to replace the production of Shaleak Knotts, Jalil Farooq, and Octavian Smith Jr., who all ran out of eligibility. The three seniors produced a combined 145 catches, 1,821 total offensive yards, and 10 touchdowns last fall.
The transfers' mutual availability over the next two seasons seems intentional. First, Mike Locksley - so long as he remains Maryland's head coach - hopefully wouldn't have to do the same level of portal shopping next offseason.
Second, those two years cover the period quarterback Malik Washington has before he can declare for the NFL Draft. He was impressive as a true freshman, but a consistent receiving corps. with whom he can develop chemistry with should help boost his stock even more.
The Terrapins' transfer class is now composed of 12 players. You can view them all, along with their stats from 2025, in our updated transfer portal tracker.
Maryland will also return 74 players from 2025. Add in the class of 18 incoming freshmen, and there is only one open spot remaining on the 105-man roster. Stay tuned to find out who fills it.
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Mike joined Maryland On SI with over four years of sportswriting experience. He started off his career in Syracuse on the Orange football beat, where he was featured on CBS Sports' Cover 3 Podcast and local ESPN sports talk radio. After that, he had a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball before returning to college sports.
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