Lacrosse, the game for which Trader initially dedicated to the Terrapins, turned out to be the one he didn’t play throughout his first yr on campus. Instead, he spent the spring with the football program making ready for his sophomore season. Once a prized lacrosse recruit, Trader gave up his freshman season in favor of Terps football, the crew that got here calling later in his highschool profession.
“I think it’s probably one of the hardest decisions that he’s dealing with right now,” Trader’s dad mentioned.
Trader had by no means earlier than wanted to decide on. He ascended to grow to be a top-10 lacrosse prospect nationally whereas taking part in football every fall. It was a tough however viable balancing act. Often, he’d go to a area and work by way of football drills, then play wall ball for lacrosse. At Maryland, Trader deliberate to compete in each sports activities — and nonetheless hopes to ultimately — however this previous winter, he needed to resolve between the lacrosse season and spring football practices that function vital studying time for a younger participant.
Trader’s dad reminded his son: Maryland lacrosse would most likely win a Big Ten title. (The Terps did.) And the crew could be in rivalry for a nationwide championship.
“That’s two rings in one year,” Trader’s dad mentioned. “That’s hard to turn down.”
But Trader noticed a chance on Coach Michael Locksley’s crew. Both of Maryland’s beginning safeties, Nick Cross and Jordan Mosley, departed after final season, and Trader had an opportunity to climb up the depth chart. He knew spring practices would assist him accomplish that.
By the time Maryland’s season opener arrived, Trader felt antsy and excited. He visualized each second on the sector unfolding precisely as deliberate, and he had a little bit of hassle falling asleep that Friday night time. Against Buffalo, he stepped onto the sector as a starter, and he stays within the high spot on the depth chart coming into the Terps’ third matchup Saturday night time in opposition to SMU.
“I had to sacrifice not playing lacrosse my first year to do that,” Trader mentioned of incomes the job.
The security duo of Trader and fellow first-time starter Beau Brade is an untested partnership, and so they’re tasked with bettering a passing protection that struggled final season. The Terps’ offense has proved to be prolific and well-rounded. The protection will decide how full this crew will be.
Trader is younger however assured, and “he has some alpha in him,” defensive coordinator Brian Williams mentioned. Trader surged right into a management place due to these qualities, and Locksley needs his groups to be sturdy down the middle, from nostril guard to center linebacker to security.
“Dante’s not one of those guys that’s afraid to call out a teammate — older, younger, it doesn’t matter — if they’re not necessarily living up to our standard,” Locksley mentioned. “And to me, if we continue to have a lot of guys like Dante Trader, we’ll continue to build this program to win championships.”
Not way back, Trader assumed he wouldn’t play football in faculty or past. He felt content material together with his anticipated trajectory in his major sport, which he initially started when his dad let him select between lacrosse and tee-ball. From watching his older sister play softball, Trader thought the choice could be gradual and boring, his dad mentioned, so he turned to a lacrosse stick.
By the tip of center faculty, Trader had gone on an unofficial go to to see Maryland’s campus and speak with Coach John Tillman. The Delmar, Del., native traveled two and a half hours twice per week to play lacrosse with the Madlax program — extra time within the automobile than on the sector. After Trader’s sophomore yr, his membership coach reached out to Andy Hilgartner, the lacrosse coach at McDonogh, to inform him that Trader was serious about transferring to a D.C.- or Baltimore-area faculty for a extra aggressive lacrosse expertise. Hilgartner remembers the coach describing Trader, a midfielder, as a “special” participant and “one of the most phenomenal kids I’ve ever coached.” Hilgartner knew he needed to get Trader on McDonogh’s campus for a go to.
The football workers discovered of Trader’s two-sport background, so McDonogh defensive backs coach Marcus Wilson watched a few of Trader’s lacrosse video games that summer time earlier than his junior yr. Wilson observed pace, agility and imaginative and prescient that made Trader an intriguing football prospect.
“He was a lacrosse guy first in our book,” Wilson mentioned. But the football coaches thought, “We’ll take a chance on this kid.”
Trader had the ability in lacrosse to primarily go to any faculty program he needed, Hilgartner mentioned. Just a number of days after Sept. 1, when faculty coaches can contact juniors in highschool, Trader committed to Tillman’s program.
And then he had a breakout football season.
His performances improved each week. The football coaches believed he may have a future on this sport, too. Trader competed with and in opposition to a number of the nation’s greatest recruits, steadily affirming that he belonged on that tier.
As a receiver, Trader showcased his means as a “tough kid, breaking tackles, making plays out of nothing,” Wilson mentioned. On the defensive finish, Trader meticulously studied movie, knew the performs opponents would run out of sure formations and developed into a powerful open-field tackler. In one season — Trader didn’t get to play football as a senior due to the pandemic — he “changed the DB room at McDonogh,” Wilson mentioned.
Locksley provided Trader a football scholarship, and by the tip of his junior season, Trader had dedicated to play each sports activities for the Terps.
There’s carry-over between the 2 sports activities: Navigating contact and fixed decision-making in lacrosse, Hilgartner mentioned, helps Trader in football. Tillman has had former highschool football gamers on his roster. Terps lacrosse star Jared Bernhardt earned the Tewaaraton Award, then received a nationwide championship as a Division II quarterback at Ferris State and is now on the Atlanta Falcons’ roster as a receiver.
Does Trader have a favourite sport? “That’s the reason I was playing two,” Trader mentioned, “because I love both of them equally.”
He misses lacrosse and nonetheless hopes to play for the Terps. Trader doesn’t need to publicly decide to a definitive reply and as a substitute simply says “there’s a good chance” he’ll sometime compete for Tillman. Trader hasn’t performed lacrosse shortly, and his objective could be to function an “extra player to an already great dynasty.”
Trader didn’t attend lacrosse video games in College Park final spring, opting to look at on TV as a substitute, “because it kind of killed me not to play,” he mentioned.
Trader has informed Hilgartner that he plans to work out with McDonogh’s lacrosse crew through the winter break after Maryland’s football season ends. Trader’s dad expects his son to play lacrosse so long as he stays wholesome.
As Trader’s football profession continues, so will the tough decisions. That push and pull between his love for lacrosse and goals of a future in football will persist. Another dilemma, much like the one Trader navigated this previous offseason, may emerge once more. But “whatever decision you make,” he mentioned, “you run with it.”