Denzel Conyers had already become a journeyman in the college football world by the time he committed to Maryland in April 2014. A couple years earlier, he had developed as a promising recruit in Gulfport, Fla., who signed with Florida International University. But Conyers never played a down there. In a move to repair his academic situation and keep his Football Bowl Subdivision ambitions alive, he moved across the country and enrolled in Butte Community College in California, a springboard for many eventual college football stars.
Conyers thought the worst was behind him when he pledged to the Terrapins.