Poetry in Motion

On a 2025 Maryland football roster with so many new faces, not many names looked familiar at the start of the season. One who has, Octavian Smith Jr., has been the glue of the Terps’ offense, bringing together fresh talent from all over into a single cohesive unit.

Smith Jr.’s been a talented piece of Maryland football for four seasons now, but he’s not just a fan-favorite football player; he’s an artist. A poet. Now, he’s writing the script of his best season yet, one that’s put him in some exclusive company and bodes well for his NFL aspirations. 

“I was always a good writer,” he said. “I just found a way to get my words out. I want to write a book one day, but not right now.”

He’s currently working on his best chapter of his collegiate career. After three seasons in the Maryland program, he’s embodied loyalty and perseverance, continuing to better the program he loves. 

But this season isn’t a repeated story. This year’s offense is dynamic and unpredictable and he’s been a huge part of it. 

“I like the versatility of the offense,” Smith Jr. said. “We have so many playmakers on so many levels and so many different positions that can all make a play at any given moment when we need it. I feel like that’s what makes this offense special.”

He said the team has taken leaps and bounds forward this season both on and off the field. He attributed camaraderie and vulnerability to a bond within the 2025 roster that he hasn’t always felt on previous Maryland squads. 

“I've seen him grow leadership wise,” head coach Michael Locksley said. “He's on track to graduate and starting to teach and coach the younger players the right way of how our staff is and needs to be for us to create some consistency.”

He’s already hauled in 16 catches for 267 yards under Pep Hamilton’s offense and Malik Washington’s command. Entering this week’s contest against the Huskies, Smith Jr. is just 48 yards from eclipsing his career-high for a season.

“The hot start, for me, just comes from being confident in the work I’ve put in for years,” Smith Jr. said. “I’m just being confident and comfortable in the process, putting in a lot of work and trusting God’s process and allowing things to play out how they’re meant to.”

He pulled in a career-high 113 yards on six receptions in Maryland’s win over Wisconsin. Coupled with his 103-yard performance the previous week against Towson, he became one of just five Maryland wide receivers since 2000 to record back-to-back 100-yard receiving games, joining Tai Felton (2024), Dontay Demus Jr. (2021), Stefon Diggs (2012, 2013), and Torrey Smith (2009, 2010).

“He’s brought some veteran leadership,” Washington said. “Him being able to have that experience and bringing it to what we do now is big in creating plays.”

He’s among elite company that’s experienced a wealth of NFL success. Smith Jr. recognizes the reputation that Maryland wide receivers have and turned it into the legacy he hoped to cement in College Park:

“Someone who was capable of making a lot of big plays when we needed them,” Smith Jr. said. “When you think about the receiving guys that came out of Terpsville, I want to be someone whose name comes up in that conversation.”

Smith Jr. grew up in Burtonsville, Maryland, not far from College Park. He’s been a lifelong Terps fan and nothing was going to stop him from playing for his dream school

“It’s a great feeling,” Smith Jr. said. “It’s amazing to be able to have the opportunity to stay home and play in front of my family like I’ve been doing my entire life. They come to every single game, and they do a good job bringing a lot of people out to support me.”

His number one fan has always been his mom. The local support he’s gotten from her has helped ground him through the chaos of collegiate athletics in an unprecedented era of college football.

“My mom, that’s my everything,” Smith Jr. said. “I’m forever in debt to her for all she’s done for me, all she’s sacrificed. All she’s been through and taught me through, words will never be enough to explain my appreciation and love for her.”

His overflow of encouragement includes the bond he has with his coach, one that strengthens with each passing game. Through years of ups and downs, Smith Jr’s commitment to his program has remained steady.

“I’m a firm believer in God and just trusting the process,” he said. “That’s why I never entered the portal or anything like that. I came here for a reason. I want to do it with Coach Locksley through the goals he has for the Maryland Terrapins and get them to where they’ll be one day under him.”

He’s waited his turn, showing glimpses of his raw talent in spurts on various iterations of Maryland offenses. He tallied a season-high 84 yards and a touchdown in the Terps’ win over USC, perhaps a poetic metaphor of the things to come in Maryland’s best game of a disappointing 2024 season.

Locksley’s been impressed by the role Smith Jr. has taken on in his senior season. He’s hit his veteran status in stride and become a pillar of what it means to be a Terp. Locksley has called him the “poster child” of what a developmental player looks like in his program.

“You can't buy leadership,” Locksley said. “And that's what I'm starting to see from Octavian, not just as a football player. A week ago, he was our student-athlete of the week. I'm a big believer that how you are off the field usually translates to who you will be on the field.”

They’ve co-authored a relationship built on perseverance and trust. Locksley molded Smith Jr. into being a leader of an inexperienced offense, an opportunity that Smith Jr. found additional admiration for his coach within.

“He’s going to be the first Black head coach to win a national championship. I’m confident in that because I’ve been with him for four years. I see how he works and connects with players. No matter whether you’re a scholarship player or a walk-on, no matter where you came from, he takes the time to sit down and get to know you personally and what makes you you. That’s special because you don’t get that a lot of places.”

As he writes his own story, he’s shaping the future tales of the next batch of athletes. He’s got a younger cousin following in his footsteps, playing the same position in the same number at the same high school as Smith Jr.

“I want to be that vessel for the younger generation,” Smith Jr. said. “Let them know where I came from and the things I was able to overcome and let them know it’s possible.”

When the season ends, his attention will turn to the NFL as his collegiate story reaches its close. Smith Jr. is confident that his skills will lead to a sequel, one that etches him in the books of Maryland history he yearns to add to.