Rakim Jarrett is headed to the league.
The Maryland football junior wide receiver announced on Tuesday he will forgo the Terps’ bowl game and will enter the 2023 NFL Draft.
“It was an honor to represent Maryland,” Jarrett said.
A five-star recruit out of St. John’s high school in Washington, D.C., Jarrett became an instant weapon on the Maryland offense when he joined the Terps in 2020. In just his third career game, the DMV native notched 144 yards and two touchdowns against Penn State.
In his three seasons in College Park, Jarrett finished with 119 receptions, 1,552 yards and 10 touchdowns. Jarrett was named as an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention all three years.
“He’s been great to me personally and this program,” redshirt junior quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa said. “Great guy, great leader. I couldn’t be more excited and more happy for him.”
Other departures
Fellow wide receivers Jacob Copeland and Dontay Demus also announced their decisions to forgo the bowl game and enter the draft on Nov. 30 and Dec.1, respectively. Now, Jarrett joins them.
Copeland transferred from Florida for the 2022 campaign, and finished this season with 26 catches for 376 yards and two touchdowns. Copeland’s breakthrough performance as a Terp came in the second week of the season against Charlotte, when he caught four balls for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Starting in 2018, Demus played his entire collegiate career at Maryland. In five seasons as a Terp, Demus finished with 128 catches for 2,008 yards and 14 touchdowns. Demus became just the seventh player in program history to eclipse the 2,000-yard mark, and finished top ten in program history in career catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
Redshirt senior Jeshuan Jones will play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, but has still not made a decision about the upcoming draft. Jones will lead a young receiving group into Charlotte, as the only other non-freshman receiver on the roster is sophomore Tai Felton.
“I feel like we all fed off each other,” Jones said. “We pushed each other day in and day out … I’m gonna miss that.”
On the other side of the ball, defensive back Deonte Banks announced he will forgo the bowl game and declare for the draft Dec. 5.
Banks, a four-year contributor in College Park, had his best season to date in 2022. The redshirt junior finished this season with 38 tackles, eight pass break ups and one interception. Banks ended his Maryland career with 83 tackles, 11 pass break ups and two interceptions.
The Terps will be without Jarrett, Copeland, Demus and Banks — as well as regular season contributors CJ Dippre and Ahmad McCullough — when they hit the field next in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl Dec. 30 against NC State.
