Maryland Grabs Interior D-Line Option with Former Four-Star Derrick LeBlanc Jr.
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Entering the 2026 transfer window, the Maryland Terrapins had a gaping hole to fill in their defensive line. While sack leaders Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis remain to wreak havoc on the edges, interior starters Cam Rice and Dillan Fontus left for the NFL Draft and Syracuse, respectively.
Their departures leave two spots wide open for grabs entering the 2026 spring period, and Maryland head coach Mike Locksley wasn't content with only internal options to fill them. Instead, his staff has grabbed two defensive linemen from the transfer portal.
Along with a homecoming for former Terp Lavon Johnson, the program has also secured a former four-star prospect in UCF transfer Derrick LeBlanc Jr., who has two years of eligibility remaining.
The 6'5", 310 lbs. d-lineman is no stranger to the transfer portal. He was an early enrollee at Oklahoma but transferred closer to home over the summer of 2023.
After the Kissimmee, FL native made only one appearance over two seasons, he briefly entered the portal again before returning to the Knights for 2025. It was then that he finally broke through and earned some playing time.
In eight games, LeBlanc recorded 13 tackles, one-and-a-half sacks, one pass breakup, and one fumble recovery. He saw significant snaps over a four-game stretch and finished the season with a 72.0 run defense grade from PFF.
Football runs in the LeBlanc family; Derrick's father was a two-way lineman for DI-AA Northwestern State in Louisiana and is now an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Whether LeBlanc and Johnson start immediately or not, they add some much-needed depth to a group that also lost backups Sedrick Smith and Dimitry Nicolas to the portal.
Locksley and defensive coordinator Defensive Coordinator
Ted Monachino face the challenge of improving a unit that forced only two fumbles all season while allowing an average of over 400 yards of offense.
They'll do so in what should be a make-or-break year for this staff, as the Terps look to avoid missing a bowl game for a third consecutive season.
With the other recent commitment of cornerback Amari Jackson from Boston College, the Terps currently stand at seven transfers in and 15 out. You can view them all with our transfer portal tracker, which will continue to be updated as more announcements are made.
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Mike joined Sports Illustrated 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 a brief stint reporting on Major League Baseball, he returned to the college landscape with Maryland On SI.