Coming Home To REPRESENT

The Fall 2022 issue of ONE MARYLAND Magazine recently arrived in the mailboxes of Terrapin Club members. ONE MARYLAND features stories of strength and perseverance, of determination and spirit. These stories define our athletics program, and this new magazine will allow us to share these stories with you. Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out these stories on umterps.com as a preview of what you will find in ONE MARYLAND. To receive future issues of the magazine when they debut, please join the Terrapin Club. We hope you enjoy.

Jahmir Young and Abby Meyers had their pick of schools to transfer into after illustrious three-year careers at Charlotte and Princeton, respectively. Both elected to return home, to return to Maryland, where they will now play their senior seasons in their home state. 

"I've always wanted to play for Maryland," Young said. "I felt like it was the perfect opportunity for me to come home and do something special for my senior year."

"Special" and "home" are sentiments that both players heavily emphasized when talking about their return.

"It's just really special to play in your home state at the big state school," Meyers said.

Both players are expected to be significant contributors to their respective teams.

Meyers was the 2021-22 Ivy League Player of the Year and earned AP Honorable Mention honors, averaging 18.2 points and 5.9 rebounds that season. She also helped lead Princeton to a record of 25-5, the Ivy League title, and the NCAA Round of 32, dropping a career-high 29 points in the Tigers' NCAA First Round win over Kentucky on March 19, 2022.

Young is equally as distinguished. In his first collegiate season, he was named a Kyle Macy Freshman All-American by CollegeInsider.com and the Conference USA Freshman of the Year. In addition, Young was First Team All-Conference USA this past year and was the only Conference USA player to score in double-figures and play in every game for his team this season.

Both Young and Meyers grew up watching Maryland basketball. 

Young, an Upper Marlboro native, was a Greivis Vasquez fan. Hailing from Potomac, Meyers fondly recalls attending multiple big games at XFINITY Center, especially against Ohio State. 

"The only college basketball games I went to were Maryland women's basketball games," Meyers said.

Meyers didn't just enjoy the games; she also idolized the players.

"As a young kid coming to these games, just looking at the players wearing the Maryland jerseys on the court, I was in awe. They were like goddesses to me."

Now, Meyers can hardly wait to don the Maryland colors herself.

"To now put that jersey on is really a surreal moment," Meyers said. "It feels very full circle. I worked very hard and looked up to these girls who dominated the sport and now I get to follow in their footsteps."

Young is equally thrilled to be a Terp. 

"Words can't even describe how excited I am," Young said, "I'm excited to get to work and to put this all together so we can win some games."

Young is focused on the process and on staying in the moment. However, even he can't help but smile when thinking about what his first game as a Terp will look like.

"It will be really special," Young said. "It should be fun. I'm already thinking about it now. I'm sure the night before the first game I won't even sleep, that's how excited I'll be."

Coming home has been an exciting process for not just Meyers and Young but for their families as well.

Meyers pointed to how difficult it was for her family, specifically her grandmother, to make it to her games at Princeton.

"It's my last year, and I could've reached out to other places to play, but a big part of what ultimately made me choose Maryland is how close it is to my family and my high school friends."

Meyers said she frequently expects to see family and friends supporting her inside XFINITY Center.

Young has similar assumptions. He has many family members who already plan to attend the season opener against Niagara on November 7. 

"I'm really close to my immediate family, real close to my mom and my siblings," Young said. "For them to have to drive six hours to watch my games was really tough, so me just being up the street now makes it so much easier. I know it's special for them too that I'm back playing at home."

Young also pointed to the added benefits of having people he trusts be just a few minutes from him now.  

"They make sure I keep my head on straight," Young said of his family and close friends. "That's another positive to being so close to people who want the best for me. They make sure I don't have any distractions and stick to the main goals which are being able to graduate and basketball."

In addition to playing at home, both players were drawn to their respective coaching staffs and cultures.

"I connected with Coach (Kevin) Willard and the other coaches and I love my

teammates," Young said. "I wanted to find the right situation for me, and being able to play at home was a plus."

"Coach (Brenda) Frese was always there throughout the process for me," Meyers said. "Just showing that commitment to me as a person more so than just a player was really special and was a big reason why I chose Maryland."

Young and Meyers are cornerstones of the renewed emphasis throughout Maryland Athletics on attracting and retaining local DMV talent.

Young is a DeMatha Catholic product and played right down the road from Maryland. While there, he earned All-Conference and honorable-mention Washington Post All-METS honors.

As close as the two schools are, Young is the first DeMatha prospect to play basketball at Maryland in 20 years.

"That's a crazy fact just knowing that the schools are five minutes away from each other," Young said. "It does make it special because it's been 20 years and now I'm trying to come here and do something special." 

Young is hopeful that trend has been broken for good, pointing to the program's recent commitments from local products Jamie Kaiser and Jahnathan Lamothe. 

"I hope with me coming back it helps to get more DeMatha prospects and more DMV prospects. I feel like it's the start now with me, but there'll be many more."

Meyers was a Walt Whitman High School standout in Bethesda. She hopes the current team there can come to a few of her games, just as she did as a high schooler.

"It'd be cool if they looked up to me and my fellow teammates and want to be in that position in the future, kinda like I did growing up," Meyers said.

Meyers has already seen a new trend beginning to form—one where people she knows who left Maryland decide to come home, including her partner, Marge Donovan, an All-American women's lacrosse player and a Catonsville native. Donovan also went to Princeton and is now back home playing for Maryland.

"It's really cool to see there's other athletes, other people I know, who are deciding to come back home to play," Meyers said. "We're all coming back to our home roots."

For both Young and Meyers, it's definitely good to be home.

"It's where I was born and raised," Meyers said. "It's a great place, it's super family-oriented. It's a great community. That's what I wanted to be a part of my last year of college basketball." 

"I love the people in this area," Young added. "The fans are incredible. It's just home, it's where I grew up. Maryland will always have a special place in my heart."