The skinny, nervous and quiet freshman who could barely put two good halves — or two sentences — together is long gone, replaced by a buffed up, confident and conversant senior who is expected to be a leader on one of the nation's best college basketball teams.
Jake Layman's transformation at Maryland has been quite noticeable.
The only member of this year's team to have spent his first three seasons with the Terps — transfers Robert Carter Jr., Rasheed Sulaimon and Varum Ram are the team's other seniors — the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward has returned to his natural position on the wing with hopes of continuing to show the skills that made him a third-team all-Big Ten Conference selection while playing as an undersized power forward last season.