This is part of a series of 2008 Maryland football commitment Q&As leading up to Signing Day on Feb. 6. All answers are provided by the featured player. Click here for previous entries in the series.

Name: Anthony Joseph Francis
Birthdate: 5/7/90
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
Hometown: Pioneer City (Severn)
Nicknames: Fat Man, JoeFish, Jack Diamond
Height: 6’5
Weight: 320
Position: Defensive tackle
High School: Gonzaga College High School (DC)
Senior statistics: 20 solo tackles, nine assists and two sacks
Bench max: 345
40-yard dash: 5.06
Runner-up: Georgia Tech
Other schools considered: Notre Dame, UCLA, Florida State, Virginia, Boston College
Favorite NFL player: Cowboys safety Roy Williams
Favorite NFL team: Dallas Cowboys
Favorite all-time Terp: Randy White
Favorite music: Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Talib Kweli, Seal
Favorite book: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Favorite movie: The Ladies Man
Favorite TV show: American Gladiators
Favorite food: Mozzarella sticks
Favorite high school class: Poetry
Favorite thing about College Park: “Even though it’s a big campus, everything is really close together.”
Other high school sports: “Basketball, but I don’t think I’m good enough to play for them now.”
Hobbies: “I make music, write poetry, I make short movies, I listen to a lot of sports radio.”
Intended major: Broadcasting
Something that not many people know about you: “I have a split personality. I’m a nice guy when I’m off the field. There’s not many people that have bad things to say about me. But when I’m playing, I do some of the meanest things you’ve ever seen in your life.”
Best football moment: “Probably my last game against St. John’s. On fourth-and-one, we were down seven in the fourth quarter. They went for it, they were on our 8-yard line and I pushed the offensive tackle. I threw him back and made a 4-yard tackle for loss. We ended up driving down the field and then on our own fourth down we threw a pass and he was wide open, but the sun was in his eye and he couldn’t even see it.”
Role model: “Probably my dad. My dad’s a basketball coach, so I love sports because of him. I’m the only football player in the school that’s in the school musical every spring. When I first came to him about it, a lot of fathers that are basketball coaches – all they know is sports. They probably wouldn’t have been as open-minded to it, but my dad was always cool with it. He says as long as my grades are straight, he’s cool with it.”
Why Maryland? “I feel as if the coaching staff is probably the most genuine coaching staff and the most genuine people I’ve ever met in my life. When I went out to the All-American Combine last year ... the first day I destroyed everybody and Tom Lemming went on ESPN and said I was the best defensive tackle there. So everybody had me as the best defensive tackle in the country. The next day we ran the 40 in the rain outside and I ran a slow 40 time. Even though I was the best defensive tackle there, just because I ran a bad 40 time [schools] didn’t recruit me. But [Terps defensive line] coach [Dave] Sollazzo and [defensive coordinator] coach [Chris] Cosh contacted me and said, ‘We don’t care about that. When’s the last time a defensive lineman had to run 40 yards to get to a quarterback?’ The Wednesday when I got back from the combine, that’s when I committed.”