Daxx Garman has already been a quarterback in the Pac-12 and Big 12, so now he figures he’ll hit up one more Power Five conference for his final collegiate act.
Thursday afternoon, Maryland announced that the well-traveled quarterback will join the Terrapins football team for his last season of football. As the strong-armed Garman will be a graduate transfer, he’ll be eligible to play immediately in 2015 and, right away, be thrust knee-deep in his new team’s quarterback competition.
“We are excited that Daxx will be joining our program,” head coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “He is an experienced quarterback who has proven himself as an accomplished starter in the Big 12, helping to lead his team to a postseason bowl game. Daxx is an outstanding student who has displayed tremendous poise and maturity during his college career. He comes in knowing he is competing for the starting quarterback position and is looking forward to the competition and being part of our football family”
After weeks worth of speculation, Mike Gundy confirmed in early March that Garman would be transferring... again. He came to OSU after transferring in from Arizona; in high school, he transferred on two separate occasions as well.
Garman will enter the signal-calling mix in College Park this summer, with his main competition likely being Caleb Rowe. Coming off a torn ACL, Rowe exited spring practice as the favorite to win the starting job even as he didn’t participate in any of the 15 sessions. The new contender, though, has plenty of experience to be a significant threat to Rowe’s standing.
Garman replaced J.W. Walsh, who sustained a season-ending leg injury in Week 2, and started the next eight games at quarterback last season before going down with a concussion in a Nov. 15 loss to Texas. Freshman Mason Rudolph replaced Walsh against Baylor and, in three starts, led the Cowboys to at least 28 points in going 2-1, including a 30-21 win over Washington in the Cactus Bowl that saw him pass for 299 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Because of that three-game stretch — and because a Garman-led offense failed to score more than 27 points in five of eight starts — Rudolph was widely viewed as the overwhelming favorite to win the starting job heading into spring practice. In fact, Gundy stated around the time of Garman’s transfer that Rudolph would enter the spring as the unquestioned starter, with Walsh as his backup, meaning it’s essentially the 6-4, 217-pound true sophomore’s job to lose.
Coming out of high school in Southlake, Tex., as a three-star prospect, Garman originally signed with Arizona in 2011. He announced in December of that year that he would be transferring from the Wildcats to the Cowboys.
“Coach Edsall has done a great job with the football program and he truly cares about his players,” Garman said. “I’m very excited to compete in the Big Ten Conference. Maryland is an outstanding university and I’m excited to further my education and continue playing football. I enjoyed my visit in College Park and I’m excited to have this opportunity.”