The state of Maryland has been an often-underrated hotbed of football recruiting in recent years as schools like Good Counsel, Bishop McNamara, and Gilman producing consistently high-quality talent on a yearly basis. The University of Maryland has long been unable to capitalize on this gluttony of talent in their backyard, but that all appears to be changing with the early 2012 hiring of Mike Locksley as the school’s offensive coordinator.
Maryland football recruiting 2014: Local recruiting renaissance in full effect in College Park
Randy Edsall and Mike Locksley have turned the recruiting ship around for Maryland. What does their class look like this year?
Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports
Considered one of the best recruiters in the area, Locksley immediately managed to bring in the best player in the state, Stefon Diggs and he's paid immediate dividends for the Terps. Maryland ranks just 63rd in the 247sports composite team recruiting rankings, this year, good for 12th in the ACC (or tenth in the B1G, which is where these recruits will be playing).
New Terps
Maryland has received two commitments in the past month, however, in offensive tackle Larry Mazyck and defensive end Jesse Aniebonam. Mazyck previously committed to the program in high school, but the massive offensive lineman (6’7”, 340 pounds) will now be coming back to the Terps after some JuCo play.
Top Terps
Aniebonam is one of Maryland’s top recruits. The defensive end out of Good Counsel (Md.) High School is ranked as a four-star by the 247sports composite. The composite also ranks Aniebonam as the second-best player in the state and the seventh-best strong-side defensive end in the country.
Will Ulmer is another one of Maryland’s top recruits. The quarterback out of St. John’s College (DC) High School is ranked a three-star by the 247sports composite. He’s also rated as the third-best player in DC by the composite and as the tenth-best dual threat quarterback in the nation.
Jonathan Thomas is another jewel of the class for the Terps. The running back out of St. John's Prep (Mass.) is ranked a three-star by the 247sports composite. The composite also ranks Thomas as the fourth-best player in the state and the 37th-best running back in the country.
There are many more big targets on the horizon for the Terps, too. Consensus top-player in the state of Maryland Damian Prince, a five-star offensive tackle from Bishop McNamara (Md.), has the Terps in his top five while five-star cornerback Jalen Tabor out of Friendship Academy (DC) is considered to have a Maryland lean.
On target
With Locksley, Maryland is really shooting for the stars with the local kids.
The two big fish are five-star offensive tackle Damian Prince, over whom Maryland will battle with Florida State and Ohio State, and Jalen Tabor, a five-star cornerback who is also considering Florida.
There has been a lot of chatter lately about Maryland landing the five-star duo.
