Maryland Football: Phil Steele projects true freshman Malik Washington as starting QB
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Phil Steele's 2025 College Football preview is out, and he's made a bold prediction for the Maryland Terrapins. When looking at the QB situation in College Park, Steele thinks that it will be true freshman Malik Washington who wins the battle and starts this fall.
“Locksley has started Juice Williams, Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa as true frosh so Washington is my pick to win the job.”
Phil Steele’s prediction for Maryland football’s starting QB is in:
— Inside Maryland Sports (@Terrapins247) June 12, 2025
“Locksley has started Juice Williams, Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa as true frosh so Washington is my pick to win the job.” pic.twitter.com/h8f0zVGpXb
The 6-4, 215-pound prospect out of Maryland chose to remain in his home state and play college ball for the Terrapins. Washington was rated as the No. 2 overall prospect from the state and the No. 5 overall QB in the nation for the 2025 class, highlighting just how big of a win it was for Locksley and his staff to keep him home.
As Steele points out, Locksley is not opposed to starting true freshman QBs, as he's done it a number of times throughout his coaching career. But Maryland also added veteran QB transfer Justyn Martin to the mix during the offseason, and Martin is Washington's primary competition for that starting job.
Appearing in five games during his three seasons at UCLA, Martin has completed 24-of-35 attempts for 179 yards and 1 touchdown. Although his on-field experience is clearly limited, there's no question that his three years of experience at the collegiate level is an advantage in this QB battle.
While experience is great, it may not be enough for Martin to hold off Washington. He may be young, but Washington's athleticism and dual-threat ability are what helped make him one of the top QB prospects in the nation. And with Locksley desperately needing to show improvement from last year's 4-8 finish, it's hard to imagine keeping a talent like Washington on the sideline in 2025.
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Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. In January of 2025, he took over as Publisher for Maryland On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.
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