Before becoming a top-flight wide receiver this fall, Maryland football’s Tai Felton was a 165-pound blocking tight end in a wishbone offense at Stone Bridge High in Ashburn, Virginia.

Being tasked with pushing back linebackers and defensive ends instead of running past them took some adjustment on Felton’s part.

“At first, I hated it,” he said with a laugh. “The first couple weeks, I was definitely getting thrown back and had a little head jerk going back. “But as the season went on, I got older and stronger, and it became a lot easier. And I recognized the importance of it. So when you recognize the importance of something, you definitely put a lot more effort into it.”

Effort hasn’t been an issue this season for Felton, who ranks third among all Football Bowl Subdivision players in receiving yards (447) and is tied for third in catches (27) and touchdown receptions (four) going into Week 4. With nine catches for 117 yards and one touchdown in Saturday’s 27-13 victory at Virginia, the 6-foot-2, 186-pound senior became the first player in program history to reach 100 receiving yards in each of his first three games.

Felton is on pace for 1,788 receiving yards, 108 catches and 16 touchdowns — all of which would shatter school records held by Marcus Badgett (1,240 receiving yards in 1992), DJ Moore (80 catches in 2017) and Torrey Smith (12 touchdown receptions in 2010). Senior wide receiver Kaden Prather, who caught four passes for 48 yards and one score against the Cavaliers, is proud of Felton’s growth.

“He’s always known he could do it,” he said. “He just had to see himself do it. I’ve seen him get the extra work in all offseason. His mind is just at a way higher level than it was his first few years. The fact that he’s actually doing what he thought he could do, it’s going really well.”

Felton’s talent was evident early. Mickey Thompson, his coach at Stone Bridge who retired earlier the year after guiding the school to three state titles in 12 appearances and 16 regional titles, said Felton was the best skill player on the field in the 2018 final.

But Felton’s best quality, according to Thompson, was a hunger to beat opponents while encouraging his teammates.

“His attitude and his belief in himself, there’s nobody like him,” he said. “He can be this tenacious, high-energy guy, but he is a great teammate on top of that. I just never had a player quite like him. He’s got the tenacity of, ‘I can beat you when it’s me against you.’ But he also had that teammate element that makes him a great teammate and picks other guys up.”

But a few games into his junior year in 2019, Felton tore the ACL in his left knee during a punt return, and the number of offers from top programs dwindled from 20 to Maryland, Nebraska and Old Dominion. The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 prevented him from making trips, and he decided to commit to the Terps.

“I didn’t realize how close it was,” Felton half-jokingly said about the 75-minute drive from Ashburn to College Park. “The staff was still very loyal to me even after I tore my ACL and after I told them what happened. So it was the loyalty and how close it was to home.”

At Maryland, though, Felton found himself buried on the depth chart behind teammates such as Dontay Demus Jr., Rakim Jarrett and Jeshaun Jones. Felton contributed on special teams and got some runs on offense, but waiting for more opportunities was an exercise in patience.

“It was definitely a mental challenge for me because coming out of high school, I was a top guy,” he said. “I had the torn ACL and COVID. So my freshman year at Maryland, I kind of had to relearn how to be that guy again and the ins and outs of being at a new level and starting at another high level. It was definitely frustrating.”

Like Felton, redshirt junior quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. had to sit until Taulia Tagovailoa left after last season. Edwards said he admired Felton’s resilience.

“The best thing about him is how persistent he’s been,” he said. “He knew he had to wait his turn, play special teams. Had a couple catches his freshman year and here and there, and I think the biggest thing for him is, he just kept pushing, and now the golden opportunity is in front of him.”

Terps coach Mike Locksley credited Felton’s emergence this season to the work he invested during the offseason. He pointed out that Felton, running back Roman Hemby, linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II and safeties Glendon Miller and Dante Trader Jr. spent four days with Carolina Panthers tight end Jordan Matthews and former NFL safety Erik Harris at a training facility in Pensacola, Florida, over the summer and once caught balls from a tennis ball machine from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. to improve his hand-eye coordination.

“If you come watch Tai Felton in practice, the guy gets it,” Locksley said. “He understands the work that needs to be put in and deposited. He’s being rewarded for the work he puts in [and is a] great example for some of those younger receivers. … Tai, since the middle of this summer, he’s adjusting how he prepares himself, his body, taking care of his recovery, his nutrition. He’s being a pro, and it’s showing up on tape for us.”

Being a pro is a closer possibility, and Felton, who grew up admiring wide receiver Julio Jones and the Falcons because of his father’s roots in Atlanta, acknowledged that he has been dreaming of joining the NFL since he was “3 or 4 years old.” But he emphasized that his top priority is helping Maryland (2-1), which welcomes Villanova (3-0) to SECU Stadium on Saturday at noon.

“I’ve been playing football my whole life, but going through the obstacles I’ve faced, pouring into this thing and staying in the present and being where my feet are are so much more important than worrying about what’s down the road,” he said. “It’s definitely a goal of mine, and I’m looking forward to that happening, but as long as I stay in the present and keep trying to do as much as I can for this team, that’s definitely going to help as well.”