After an 7-6 record last season, Maryland head coach Randy Edsall took stock of his team at the conclusion of the campaign.

And while a postmortem on the Terrapins could have revealed a number of different areas in which the team needed serious growth, none are more important in Edsall’s mind than those of the down linemen.

Needless to say, the size and physicality of line play in Big Ten football took Edsall by surprise during his team’s first season.

“Well, I think that we found out that it was really a lineman league,” he said. “That you had to be able to win in the trenches if you were going to be successful, week in, week out, year in and year out.”

Classifying the Big Ten as a linemen league is somewhat of a running joke among fans of the conference, but like all good jokes, it’s a stereotype rooted at least some what in reality.

Quality and physicality of line play has been a defining characteristic since the Big Ten’s inception, something the Terps were unprepared for after years of playing in what some consider to be a much more speed-and-skill-oriented ACC.

Nevertheless, Edsall hopes the team’s transition from a hybrid 3-4 defense to a true 4-3 front will help limit big gains and plays against the Terrapins this season.

“We weren’t real successful as we would have liked to be in a hybrid 3-4 defense,” Edsall said. “So when you take a look at our personnel, we felt that our personnel would be suited better in the 4-3.”

A stronger front on defense would take a lot of pressure off a Maryland secondary that was 13th in the league in pass defense last season.

For standout defensive back Will Likely, a second year in the Big Ten is full of opportunities for improvement on both the team and individual levels.

“Just get better overall, that’s always my goal,” Likely said. “Be better than I was a year ago or a game ago.”

As one of the top defensive backs in all of college football, Likely will be a player to watch in 2015. Another season competing against bigger and faster competition in the Big Ten could help boost his draft stock come spring.

“I’m the best defensive back in the conference and in college football period, and I pride myself on that,” Likely said. “I’m pretty confident, and I think my work shows.”

Work really has been the theme of the Terrapins’ off-season.

Now, with a season under its belt, the Maryland that takes the field in 2015 will likely be a much more highly conditioned and better prepared team than the version we saw for the first time in 2014.

And while the team may still have its work cut out for it playing in a stacked Big Ten East Division, slow signs of improvement in the trenches and in the secondary could mean big things for the team that went 4-4 in division play last year.

“Every game this year is going to be a battle,” senior offensive lineman Andrew Zeller said. “We’ve conditioned to where we can compete in all four quarters of the game, so we should have a lot of close ones this year.”