After DJ Durkin arrived in College Park in December, the Maryland coach set out to meet individually with every player in his new program. There were plenty of questions to be asked for the first-time head coach trying to get to know his personnel, but one question was significant in trying to burrow into the psyche of players he had only game-planned against and never coached.
"So who are the leaders around here?" Durkin asked. "Who are the guys you look up to?"
The answer about 85 percent of the time, Durkin said at Big Ten Conference media days in Chicago last month, was linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. So then it was up to Durkin to ask another question: Is this a good thing?
"The answer now in flying colors was yes," Durkin said.
Last August, Carter was a young player stepping into his first full-time starting role on defense. Now, after earning All-Big Ten honorable mention for a season in which he made more than 100 tackles, Carter is a linchpin of the Maryland defense, a leader both vocally and by example under a new coaching staff.
"We definitely had to step up as leaders and be the voice for him and just be kind of the face of the defense because even when they were going out recruiting, we had to go and make sure everything was in line with the team and the players now," Carter said in July.
Durkin has continually said that every player on the team has to earn his spot in the starting lineup and that there is open competition for every spot. But Carter appears to be one of the few apparent certainties for the Terps. He'll anchor the defense while also providing a voice for the unit which has to replace three starters in the secondary and its two most productive defensive linemen.
After redshirting as a freshman in 2013, Carter cut his teeth on special teams as a redshirt freshman. The former three-star recruit out of Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington entered his sophomore season with 13 appearances (zero starts) and 27 total tackles to his name.
In his first career start against Richmond, Carter set a new career high for tackles before halftime. He finished the season with 103 tackles and 14 tackles for loss, the most by a Maryland linebacker since All-American E.J. Henderson in 2002.
"He's definitely the heart and soul of this defense and once he's going, everybody's going," cornerback Will Likely said. "He's just a guy that is never going to stop working, never going to give up on his teammates, and he just wants to see everybody do good. That's just the type of person he is."
This offseason, Carter said he worked on learning the defense. He has to know what Durkin and linebackers coach Matt Barnes are thinking and why they're calling what they're calling. He said speaking to Durkin and Barnes, who have worked together since 2012, is "like you're speaking to the same guy." So he has to be on point in the middle of the defense at all times.
Durkin said he can't speak to Carter's "big picture" since he's only been around him since December. But he said he's seen the skills that lead for Carter to be a difference maker, both in the transition to the new coaching staff and on the field.
"He is a positive leader," Durkin said. "He's great for our program, for our players, and so we're continuing to build that and help him with that and harness that leadership in the right way."
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