First look at some of Maryland's ranked 2028 prospects - Pt. 1

In this article, I give my first impression on five Class of 2028 prospects from the state of Maryland. This is the first time I've had a chance to look at these prospects. All of these players have posted 2025 season highlight videos on their respective Hudl profile pages.    Johnson is an athletic, competitive safety who shows flashes of strong ball skills, recovery speed, and physical play at the catch point. His highlights showcase him causing turnovers, breaking up passes, and showing great hustle on the field. There's one play where he was beat for a deep pass, but he doesn't give up. Johnson ends up hitting the receiver near the goal line and causing a fumble that results in a turnover. There's a couple of plays where he's out of place and beat by a step, but he recovers quickly to make the play. I also thought he had a couple of nice man-to-man reps against the slot receiver, showing his quickness out of the break en route to breaking up the pass. As he cleans up his technique some more, I can see him easily becoming one of the best at his position when it comes to pass coverage.     Griffin is a safety who plays with good instincts and discipline. His highlights show that he has the ability to play deep, roll into the box, and make play in space. One example of him having good instincts is in the highlight where he makes a redzone interception. The quarterback is rolling to the right and Griffin is reading the quarterbacks eyes while moving laterally with the quarterback. Griffin eventually jumps the throw and makes the play. Overall, he has good zone awareness and ball skills. Griffin is also a reliable tackler. He'll definitely want to get stronger at put some more weight on during the offseason.     Marroquin plays both wide receiver and defensive back. For the purposes of his article, I'll stick to safety. His highlights show he has excellent ball skills, as evidenced by multiple interceptions in different coverages. Marroquin reads the quarterback well and reacts quickly. I'd like to think that him being a wide receiver as well helps him understand what the offense is trying to do in the passing game. I'm impressed with the range Marroquin shows and his closing speed from deep alignments. Despite being on the smaller side, he still delivers forceful hits when he tackles. He'll definitely want to add more weight and strength during the offseason.     Jennifer plays both wide receiver and cornerback. I'll start off by saying that he'll need to put on some weight and get stronger during the offseason. From the slot position, he has a natural feel for spacing and shows good acceleration after the catch. There's a play where he runs a slant and go for what looks to be a 25-plus yard touchdown, showing his ability to win vertically from the slot. From his cornerback position, there's a couple of interceptions in his highlights where he competes for and wins 50-50 balls. I think he plays the cornerback position with discipline and is another player who benefits from playing wide receiver and knowing offensive tendencies. Overall, he plays bigger than his size and impacts the game in multiple phases.     Watson isn't the biggest size wise, but he's a high-effort, technically sound center with the agility to make solid blocks at the second level. It's worth noting that he plays defensive lineman as well. I think Watson has a quick first step on both sides of the football. When it comes to pass blocking, he has solid hand extension and keeps defenders in front. He also climbs to the second level with ease and is able to block his targets in space. There's always room for a versatile lineman who can go both ways. Watson's quickness, aggression, and finishing ability help make up for him being undersized as an interior lineman.

In this article, I give my first impression on five Class of 2028 prospects from the state of Maryland. This is the first time I've had a chance to look at these prospects. All of these players have posted 2025 season highlight videos on their respective Hudl profile pages.