DT Spence, 2 other Terps ending college careers because of injuries

COLLEGE PARK — Cam Spence, who came to Maryland as one of the highestrated recruits in the team’s 2017 class, was one of three football players who have been “medically disqualified” from the team, first-year coach Mike Locksley said after practice Monday.

Spence, a 6-foot-3, 303-pound defensive tackle who played the first two years of his high school career at Gilman before transferring to St. John’s in Washington and finishing at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., underwent multiple knee surgeries in his two years with the Terps.

Locksley said that Spence and Chris Jones, a senior wide receiver from Baltimore who played at DeMatha Catholic, will remain with the team as student assistant coaches. Nnamdi Egbuaba, a fifth-year senior linebacker who played at St. Frances, also ended his career because of injuries.

“All three of those guys were great Terps, great student-athletes, have done things the right way,” Locksley said.

“With the two, Chris and Cam, the goal will be to keep them involved with our program in some capacity and obviously Nnamdi working toward his master’s [degree] will continue to finish that through the fall.”

Egbuaba was the most accomplished of the three both on and off the field. As a redshirt junior last season, the 6-foot-1, 238-pound Egbuaba played in all 12 games for the Terps and made his only career start against Rutgers, recording a careerhigh four tackles in a 34-7 win. He was a three-time All-Big Ten academic pick.

Jones originally committed to Wisconsin out of high school, but failed to qualify academically and started his college career at Western Iowa Junior College. Former Maryland assistant Chris Beatty, who had recruited Jones while working for the Badgers, brought him to College Park as a walk-on in 2016. In three seasons, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Jones rarely saw the field and did not record a catch.

Spence was a four-star recruit coming out of IMG Academy and was ranked the No. 20 defensive tackle in the country by 247 Sports. Spence picked the Terps over Penn State, Florida State, Florida and Auburn, but knee injuries kept him off the field both as a true freshman in 2017 and again last season. He sat out the spring after undergoing surgery.