Maryland-New-Cole-Field-House-CJ-Brown

Image Credit: CBS Sports

The Maryland Terrapins’ football program has been gaining momentum on the recruiting trail over the last few months, and the future has never looked brighter for Randy Edsall’s team. The team boasted one of the largest attendance increases in the country last season, and recently unveiled plans to renovate historic Cole Field House into a state-of-the-art indoor football practice facility. Along with a new “DMV-to-UMD” mantra on the recruiting trail, the buzz surrounding the Maryland football program has never been louder.

Over the past month, I have spoken with several college football analysts in order to get their opinions on the future of the Terrapins’ football program.

Adam FriedmanRivals
Tom VanHaarenESPN
Pete VolkTestudo Times

(Discuss this article on the BSL Message Board here.)

Mike Locksley

Maryland’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach has been absolutely essential to the success that the football program has had on the recruiting trail. Immediately after arriving on campus in 2012, he snagged five high-profile recruits (Stefon Diggs, Wes Brown, Albert Reid, Mike Madaras, and Nick Brigham). He is widely considered the best recruiter in the mid-atlantic region.

Volk believes that, “This is a crucial juncture for the Maryland football program, especially in recruiting. The 2016 class is absolutely loaded with local talent interested in Maryland, and Locksley’s work repairing the perception of the program among elite DMV talent has been quite impressive. The Terps are bringing in blue-chip talent at a higher rate than before, and there is the possibility of an historic 2016 recruiting class.” Speaking to the likelihood of a historic class, he mentions that he has “never heard the recruiting whispers around this program so loud before.”

VanHaaren has been impressed with how Locksley has continued to have success on the recruiting trail despite moving to the Big Ten Conference. “Switching conferences can be difficult because there is uncertainty towards the outcome and how the team will fare in the change. Add in that the coaching staff is relatively new and there are some obstacles on the recruiting trail.” He believes that the key is continuing to keep the local talent at home. “Locksley has landed some big, local recruits with those obstacles, so he should be commended for that.”

Like Volk and VanHaaren, Adam Friedman spoke very highly of Mike Locksley. “The impact of Stefon Diggs’ commitment is still being felt. He and Locksley really started this whole stay-at-home movement.” He said that Locksley is re-invigorating Maryland’s local roots, and has done a stellar job creating a pipeline to Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington, DC. “Maryland’s roster is full of local playmakers, which are exactly the type of players that Locksley excels at recruiting.”

The Trenches

Everyone knows that Big Ten Conference games are won on the offensive and defensive lines. Both of those were areas of weakness for the Maryland Terrapins in their inaugural year in the conference. While the DMV is known for high-profile athletes, they aren’t exactly known for offensive and defensive linemen. However, there has been an unprecedented run of talented linemen produced in the area over the past few years. But with the move to the Big Ten, will Randy Edsall and his staff try to tap the midwest for some of their talented linemen?

VanHaaren says that Randy Edsall has specifically mentioned Ohio as an area that he would like to tap for linemen. However, he believes that the key is to get the local players to stay home and, “Fill spots with prospects from other areas.

Volk also speaks to the immense local talent right now when it comes to linemen. The key is to get those players to stay home. He believes that the team has done a, “Tremendous job bringing in local talent on the offensive line.”

Friedman believes that eventually, this influx of line talent in the DMV will die down, and it will be then that the Terps look elsewhere. “They are already building pipelines from Nebraska to Pennsylvania, not to mention that they are cleaning up in the DMV.”

Cole Field House

The University of Maryland recently approved a $155 million project to turn Cole Field House into an indoor practice facility. This project brings the Maryland football program up to par with other Big Ten schools, and will certainly assist them both on and off the field.

Volk believes that the project has already begun to pay dividends on the recruiting trail. “It’s helped them pretty significantly so far — four-star 2016 commit Keandre Jones cited it first when asked why he committed — and its impact will only grow exponentially as the construction date draws nearer. You can not compete for the top-flight talent on a consistent basis without top-flight facilities, and if Maryland is able to continue its improvements on the field (and yes, while it hasn’t amounted to a very high level of success, they have improved in each of the past three seasons) they could make an even large recruiting noise on the national level.”

Van Haaren reiterates Volk’s statement about Jones. “The coaches landed 2016 linebacker Keandre Jones and he told me the new facilities played a big role in his decision. Spending the money on facilities tells prospects the university is committed to football and committed to improving and competing at the top level. It’s not just having the best facilities, which does help in itself, but it sends a message to prospects that they care about the future of the program.”

Friedman spoke about the highly-publicized “Arms-Race”, and how important facilities are in this day and age. “Once this thing is built, it’s going to be an even bigger recruiting asset. The potential is astronomical. Simply putting up the plans and pictures builds the hype with potential recruits.”

DeMatha Catholic High School

One of the most frustrating things for Maryland Terrapins fans over the past few years has been watching talented player after talented player come out of DeMatha Catholic High School in nearby Hyattsville and head to other collegiate programs. Former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen was never able to build a pipeline to the talent-ridden high school, but Randy Edsall has built a very strong foundation. The team already has two commitments from DeMatha recruits in their Class of 2016, and recently hosted three more at a Maryland men’s basketball game.

I asked Friedman about the possibility of a pipeline, and he believes that one is imminent. “It will likely be another year or two before you really start to see a pipeline start to form, but the foundation is being built.” He also spoke to the immense talent that will be coming out of DeMatha over the next few years, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Tino Ellis is an extremely talented 4-star receiver in the class of 2016, and Beau English is a stellar quarterback in the 2017 class. The Stags also boast a ton of talent on the offensive line, including 4-star linemen Terrance Davis and J.P. Urquidez.

Coaching Change

Many Maryland Terrapins fans have been calling for head coach Randy Edsall to be fired ever since he finished his first season in College Park. He is under contract through the 2016 season, but a decision on his future will likely need to be made after the 2015 season. So if the University were to make a change, how would it impact the Terrapins on the recruiting trail?

VanHaaren disagrees with the notion that Edsall should be fired. “Changing coaches just because a fan base is antsy can cause more problems than it fixes. Coach Edsall has been successful elsewhere and I think he has a lot of positives in his corner to build on going forward.”

Volk believes that a coaching change would have a disastrous effect in 2016. “There’s a chance that Maryland could make a perfect hire now that would be able to salvage the relationships with the kids in that monster 2016 class, but I don’t see a candidate out there with the combination of coaching ability, local ties and a willingness to take the job that would be needed to pull it off.”

Friedman agreed with Volk that the Terrapins would need a guy with strong local ties in order to even consider making a change but  said, “I can’t see them making a change at this point. There are so many unknowns that come along with making a coaching change. It would definitely hurt the team in recruiting.”

Zack Kiesel
Zack Kiesel

Terps Analyst

Zack is a financial analyst for a defense contractor in Washington, DC. The Owings Mills native focuses most of his efforts on Maryland Football recruiting and individual coach and player pieces; but also covers Terps Basketball. He has established relationships with Big Ten beat reporters across the conference, which he utilizes in his game previews. Now a Sr. Terps Analyst for BSL, Zack can be reached at: [email protected].

X