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It’s been a few years since Maryland enjoyed much depth and even longer since it explicitly looked to push the pace.

If the Terrapins are going to go up-tempo, a departure from the norm in coach John Tillman’s decade in College Park, it’s going to start at the defensive end. And as Tillman described the possibility of doing so and tying it to a more liberal use of the roster, it was impossible not to think of the team Tillman coached that proved most adept at turning defense into offense.

That, of course, was the 2004 Navy team. The Midshipmen, with Richie Meade as their head coach and Tillman the offensive coordinator, took full advantage of their strength in numbers and made a run to the national title game.

“We’ve been talking about that team and I had some clips for our guys from that team,” Tillman said. “We do have some pieces that are similar. If you go back, Clipper Lennon, Danny Harris, they were defensive middies that were former offensive guys. That’s kind of where we are with Roman Puglise and Jake Higgins and Alex Smith and Josh Coffman. All those guys have a past where they played offense, and that’s different from some of the other teams we had here.”

It also speaks to Maryland having finally rebuilt its defensive midfield depth in the wake of both Isaiah Davis-Allen and Nick Manis graduating after the Terps’ national title in 2017. Puglise emerged as a mainstay early in his career, but the overall the lack of options has created some vulnerability exposed in the 2018 NCAA semifinals by Duke and the 2019 NCAA quarterfinals by Virginia.

Yet the Terps are older now, with Higgins (who transferred from Cleveland State before last season), Puglise and Smith all seniors. So perhaps there will be a willingness to go deeper in 2021.

It doesn’t hurt that one of Maryland’s few fifth-year seniors will be Jared Bernhardt, who planned to play football at Division II Ferris State before its season was wiped out due to the pandemic. The attackman re-inserts a major component into the Terps’ offense and also creates a little more wiggle room at that end of the field as well.

“He’s one of the top players in the country. With his athleticism and his skillset, he poses a lot of problems. You could put him in a lot of different spots,” Tillman said. “He puts a lot of pressure on the defense. If you help too much to him, it’s going to open up things. If you don’t help enough to him, he’s good enough to get to the goal. I don’t feel like there’s a lot of guys like him in the country.”

Will it all be enough for Maryland to even partially abandon its methodical roots? In some ways, it’s happened out of necessity as opponents have become more up-tempo and efficient, with the shot clock also nudging the Terps into more high-possession games.

But it might also be Maryland’s choice if it indeed has more options all over its roster to work with.

“Playing fast means you have to have depth to play fast, and we’ve been kind of top-heavy, and if you’re top-heavy, the tempo doesn’t really favor you,” Tillman said. “If you’re deep, it’s like ‘We can play more of a track meet and we’ll just have more guys than them.’”

TOP RETURNERS

Jared Bernhardt, A, Sr.

Back for his fifth season, Bernhardt should be one of the top contenders for the Tewaaraton Award. He sits 66 points shy of Matt Rambo’s program record of 257 career points.

Nick Grill, D, Sr.

One of Maryland’s fifth-year returnees, the former Marquette defenseman led the Terps with six caused turnovers last season and has emerged as a vocal leader.

Logan Wisnauskas, A, Sr.

It was Wisnauskas, not Bernhardt, who led the Terps in both goals (24) and assists (12) last season. In just two and a half seasons, he’s piled up 165 points and is likely to crack the 200-point plateau by year’s end.

KEY ADDITION

Michael Ubriaco, LSM, R-So.

After beginning his career at Villanova, Ubriaco transferred to Maryland after the 2019 season but missed all of the abbreviated 2020 campaign with an injury. He should find his way into a role.

ENEMY LINES

“Maryland is absolutely loaded. They have depth across the board. They added a handful of other transfers. But what Coach Tillman does a terrific job of is just staying consistent. They’re not just consistently good and consistently at a very high level, but they’re consistent in how they do things. There’s a lot to be said for that. You know what you get when you play Maryland. You’re going to get their best effort. They’re high-energy, they’re fast, they’re emotional and they’re also very meticulous in how they approach things, which I think is very scheme-oriented offensively and defensively. They don’t stray too much from who they are, and that’s what has built so much success over the last decade. They know who they are and they’re not going to change for anyone.”

“The consistency of that program is second to none. The conference is competitive as it is, and they've been the most consistent team since 2015. This thing started with Coach Tillman. They're very well-coached and they have a strong identity.”

NUMBERS GAME

17

Maryland has played in 17 consecutive NCAA tournaments, the longest active streak in the country. The Terrapins have made every postseason since 2003, the year the field expanded from 12 to 16.