Pair of Terps' Defensive Players Returning for Sophomore Seasons
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The 2026 Maryland Terrapins Football roster continues to take shape. As head coach Mike Locksley fills areas of need from the transfer portal, his staff is also making sure to lock up the bulk of the 2025 team for this year.
This week, the team has been announcing some final re-commitments. A probable defensive line starter confirmed on Monday he's returning, and the Terps' star freshman kicker followed suit on Tuesday.
Now, two more rising sophomores have also verified they're staying in College Park.
The first of the pair is defensive lineman Nahsir Taylor. A three-star prospect from Suitland, MD, Taylor chose his state school over offers from Georgia, Notre Dame, Penn State, and others.
Taylor made 11 appearances as a true freshman - with his first career start coming Week 8 at UCLA.
Over those appearances, the edge rusher tallied 19 tackles and two sacks while posting a 78.5 pass rushing rating from PFF.
Edge looks to be a loaded position, with 2025 starters Zahir Mathis and Sidney Stewart back for their sophomore years and five-star recruit Zion Lee joining the team shortly.
Still, none of them deterred Taylor from re-signing with the Terps:
Wop is back‼️@NahsirTaylor1_ is here for year 2. pic.twitter.com/bpjE4mgXRg
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) January 21, 2026
The other retention is defensive back Jayden Shipps. A three-star from Severn, MD, Shipps also stayed close to home by turning down other offers from Indiana, NC State, Virginia, and elsewhere.
Shipps appeared in all 12 games, primarily as a slot corner. In his reserve role, Shipps collected 11 tackles, one sack, and a 73.8 PFF tackling grade.
His depth chart situation is a bit more open-ended for 2026. The Terps added a former starting corner from BC who, barring another injury, is expected to grab one of the two spots here.
Jamare Glasker, who started ten games last year after coming over from Wake Forest, should be the other guy on the outside.
Shipps has some competition in the slot as well with Dontay Joyner outpacing him in snaps there down the stretch.
There could be also opportunities at free safety - Shipps got a look there in Week 10 when Jalen Huskey was limited.
Regardless of which part of the secondary Shipps is destined for, he plans to find out at Maryland:
Sophomore Szn for Shipps 🔁 pic.twitter.com/nVNZ89R9qj
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) January 23, 2026
Including these two, the Terrapins will retain 77 total players from their 2025 squad. The roster currently sits at 102, three shy of the NCAA maximum.
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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.