Roman Hemby, a Harford County native who spent four years with Maryland football, embodied the program that Terps coach Michael Locksley wanted to build: one focused on keeping local talent in state and developing from within. Locksley’s said throughout the past year that he’s been forced to change that approach as the sport shifts around him and as losses pile up.

Hemby has also adapted. The John Carroll graduate left Maryland after the 2024 season and is now the leading rusher for No. 1 Indiana, which capped an undefeated regular season with a Big Ten championship earlier this month. His new team is filled with transfer success stories like him who are turning around a program that was previously the losingest in college football history. Hemby represents both where college sports were and where they are.

The Maryland kid wanted to achieve all that for the Terps, who will be on his mind when the top-seeded Hoosiers play their first College Football Playoff game in the Rose Bowl on New Years Day, because he believes his time with them was cut short.

Reflecting on his departure during a news conference Wednesday, the former Terps running back said that Locksley “urged” Hemby to transfer after the 2024 season to allow the program to “seek new avenues, restart, build a new culture, get some younger players.”

“The end of the season last year, it was a hard time,” he said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as far as if I wanted to pursue my goal of playing in the NFL or do another year of college. And when I met with the coaching staff, they pretty much just told me, ‘Your time here is done,’ in a nice way. They didn’t just kick me out. Ultimately, they told me the role was done. I did all I could for the program, and it was time for me to do something for myself. They urged me to seek my next steps.

“They told me the NFL draft is something you can pursue, or you can see what’s out there and what makes the most sense. So, when I told my parents, ‘Hey, I can’t go back to Maryland, I got to find something else,’ we jumped on it and saw what was best.”

The move turned the page on a previous era of Terps football. And with universities now allowed to pay players directly, it might have saved the athletic department money. Hemby broke out with a 989-yard, 10-touchdown season in redshirt freshman season 2022. His production dipped from there, as he scored just 10 total rushing touchdowns over the next two seasons and never eclipsed 700 yards on the ground in his final two years in College Park.

The running back was a part of eight-win teams in 2022 and 2023, but the Terps finished 4-8 in Hemby’s final season with them. He was unsure if he wanted to return for his fifth and final year of eligibility in 2025 before Locksley nudged him away.

“It was Coach Locksley who said the door was kind of open for me to leave,” Hemby said. “I understood it. It hurt my heart. I was definitely upset about it. I cried like a baby.”

In a statement to The Baltimore Sun, Maryland athletics said: “We wish Roman well in the College Football Playoff. As he referenced in his interview, and as we do with all our players at the end of every season, we discuss what we think is in the player’s best interest as it relates to their career. At the conclusion of those meetings, each player has to decide what they think is best for them. Unfortunately, that means a good player may leave the program. That is how today’s college football currently operates.”

Without him, Maryland never found a cohesive rushing attack this season. Freshman DeJuan Williams led the team with 501 yards on the ground, while sophomore Nolan Ray added 289 yards (quarterback Malik Washington’s 303 rushing yards were second most on the team). Maryland’s 1,252 rushing yards ranked second-lowest in the Big Ten. Hemby’s Hoosiers ran for 2,875 yards, most in the conference. He accounted for 918 of those yards and scored six touchdowns.

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A lackluster ground game forced Maryland’s offense to rely heavily on Washington’s arm. He finished the season with 473 pass attempts, most in the Big Ten and 100 more than the quarterback with the second most. And the Terps again finished 4-8.

“When it first happened, I was upset,” Hemby said. “Like, ‘Man, I did so much for this program.’ And I felt like I had so much more to give. I wanted to be a leader for the younger guys.”

Hemby, once a symbol for what Maryland aspired to be, now reflects what his new team is. Indiana, Big Ten basement dwellers before coach Curt Cignetti arrived before the 2024 season, is filled mostly with players who weren‘t recruited there originally, some afterthoughts at their old schools. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the best example. He transferred in after two seasons and California and was awarded the Heisman Trophy on Saturday. Hemby couldn’t be in New York to celebrate with Mendoza but watched from home.

Indiana’s results against Maryland best signify the program’s opposing directions. The Terps won the matchup, 44-17, in 2023. This year, they lost 55-10. Hemby rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown.

“I definitely never wanted to kick dirt on the program, because I wouldn’t be here without them,” Hemby said. “I cross paths with people who say, ‘It’s crazy how they did you like that.’ I don’t even view it as that. I view it as maybe having my best interests. They put me in a better situation.”

Hemby’s local roots are still strong despite leaving. The John Carroll graduate returns home often, he said, although less so now than when he was just down the road, and he runs a youth camp with his high school. Hemby, a three-star recruit, collected more than 2,000 total yards and 25 touchdowns over his final two seasons for the Patriots.

John Carroll’s staff has turned over since Hemby was there – head coach Ken Brinkman is now in the same role at Edgewood. But he keeps in touch with several of his former teammates, and Hemby said the school’s new coaches have been helpful with organizing his camp and keeping him involved.

“Not only was he a good player, but I think you could walk in that building and ask anybody there what they think of him, and they would speak tremendous about him,” said Brinkman, who added that he’s known Hemby since he was 7 years old. “How he carried himself, how he was a leader. People looked up to him because he did all the right things.”

Years later and with his former team in the rearview, there’s a feeling of what if that persists inside Hemby. Confetti fell on him as he lifted a trophy after winning a Big Ten title. He’s playing in games with more meaning than Maryland ever has.

What if this could have happened at Maryland, at home, he sometimes wonders. He badly wanted it to. It never did. The chase to get there led him elsewhere.

“We had everything that we needed,” Hemby said. “We just weren’t able to get it done.”

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.