Maryland's new era: Freshman Malik Washington could be the answer at quarterback

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Last season was the first time in five years that Taulia Tagovailoa wasn't the quarterback at Maryland. It didn't go well.

Now, a long-term replacement may have arrived.

It's not yet clear if freshman Malik Washington will start the opener for the Terrapins, but he very much represents the future for this program. A local kid from nearby Glen Burnie, Washington is the type of recruit who can help a program like Maryland earn credibility — and he's joining a coach who has shown he can produce big passing numbers if the right player is doing the throwing.

“Typically the way you make strides is by failing, and so we've got to put guys like Malik in positions in practice,” coach Michael Locksley said. “It's almost like you read and hear about Tiger Woods, how he throws the ball into the sand trap, and deliberately practicing one of the toughest shots there is. We've got to create that environment in practice.”

Locksley said the public wouldn't know Maryland's starting quarterback until game time against Florida Atlantic in the opener Aug. 30. But the Terrapins made Washington available to reporters during spring practice, which said a lot about what Locksley thinks of him. He's a top-five quarterback recruit this year according to 247Sports, which ranks Maryland's overall class 25th nationally.

By the time Tagovailoa departed, he'd led the Terps to three straight bowl appearances and become the Big Ten's career leader in yards passing. But last season, Maryland went 4-8.

Locksley said he lost the locker room last season — and that he needs to do a better job of managing this new era of college football in which different players can make different amounts of money.

“Anything and everything that took place a year ago, we've ripped off the rearview mirror, and it's moving forward only," he said.

Locksley enters the season with two new coordinators — Pep Hamilton on offense and Ted Monachino on defense. Hamilton has been an offensive coordinator for multiple NFL teams and was also an offensive assistant at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh.

“Coach Locks, his offense has traditionally had quarterbacks that have been very productive — statistically, just running the system, it's a quarterback-friendly system," Hamilton said. "We're going to make a concerted effort to make sure that we complement the things that Coach Locks has always done with his passing game, with a run game that looks similar to the passing game.”

Billy Edwards Jr., Maryland's top quarterback a season ago, transferred to Wisconsin That leaves Washington competing with Justyn Martin and Khristian Martin for the starting job. The Terrapins also lost running back Roman Hemby to a conference rival when he left for Indiana.

Maryland athletic director Damon Evans left for SMU, and Jim Smith was hired to replace him. It's not clear what effect that could have on Locksley's job security. The program improved from where it was when Locksley took over, but last year was a step back, and he's now heading into his seventh season on the job.

For a second straight season, Maryland's Big Ten schedule doesn't include Ohio State, and this year the Terps avoid Penn State and Oregon as well. Maryland does face Indiana, Illinois and Michigan — the other three conference foes ranked in the preseason Top 25 — but two of those games are at home.

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FILE - Maryland head coach Mike Locksley watches warmups before an NCAA college football game on Nov. 9, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Lydia Ely, File)

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)