COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The white jersey hangs over the aluminum bench, not slung like a dirty shirt over a dining room chair but delicately placed in a way that its name and number—McNAIR 79—are clearly visible to those attending the Maryland spring game. Carolina Panthers linebacker Jermaine Carter, one of two Maryland players selected in the 2018 NFL draft, points across Capitol One Field at Maryland Stadium, through hustling football players and coaches, to that portable memorial. “Nobody is forgetting about him,” says Carter.
The Terps are inching toward what they hope is a bright future while remembering what they acknowledge is a dark recent past.