For those that missed it, the Maryland football staff hired two new assistants on Thursday.

Kasey Dunn left Baylor to become Maryland’s wide receivers coach, while Danny Pearman takes over tight ends and special teams for the Terps following a one-year stint at Duke.

Here’s a look at each coach’s potential recruiting abilities with some outside opinions sprinkled in:

Kasey Dunn

Before I get to the outside opinions, here’s what Ralph Friedgen had to say about Dunn.

“We’re excited to add Kasey to the staff,” Friedgen said. “He has the resources to help take us to a new level. He’s been at a lot of good programs around the country. His experience should really help us in recruiting. Kasey will also contribute to our offensive game plan.”

Dunn spent the 2004-06 seasons coaching running backs at Arizona. Josh Gershon of GoAZCats.com was kind enough to offer his take (via e-mail) on Dunn.

Kasey Dunn did a good job at Arizona and is credited with the development of three NFL running backs in Denver’s Mike Bell, Tennessee’s Chris Henry and Kansas City's Gilbert Harris. He was also the lead recruiter on the UA’s current starting running back, Nicolas Grigsby, who had one of the best true freshman seasons for a running back in school history.

For those that didn’t get a chance to see Grigsby this past season, you missed out. Dunn definitely unearthed a gem in Grigsby (and managed to keep the California native from the in-state schools).

Danny Pearman

First, here are Friedgen’s thoughts on Pearman:

“We’re excited to have Danny on board,” Friedgen said. “He’s a good fit because of his experience in the ACC and his success with special teams and working with tight ends. We feel like he can make a tremendous contribution to our staff.”

Since Pearman spent just one season at Duke (and before that, one season at North Carolina), I tabbed a couple Virginia Tech sources to weigh in on Pearman’s recruiting ability. Pearman spent eight seasons in Blacksburg.

Brian Mohr of HokieHaven.com said Pearman was around before he started covering Virginia Tech, but he didn’t recall him being a “major force in recruiting circles.” Mohr did say he was a solid tight ends coach, citing the development of Jeff King, an all-ACC tight end and current member of the Carolina Panthers.

Another Hokies source noted that Pearman and Virginia Tech parted ways in 2006 when Frank Beamer brought in Curt Newsome, then an assistant at James Madison that was viewed as ‘a terrific recruiter.’ The same source indicated that Pearman wasn’t assigned a very fruitful recruiting area. Sounds like the jury’s out on his recruiting prowess.

Overview

All in all, it looks like a couple of quality additions to the UM coaching staff. Dunn can apparently recruit and he’s got the background as an excellent college wide receiver (a three-time All-American at Idaho). Pearman has a ton of experience in the ACC (played at Clemson, coached at Virginia Tech, Duke and North Carolina) and he’s a well-regarded tight ends coach. Plus, it can’t hurt having a special teams coordinator that learned the trade at Virginia Tech.

Recruiting Report programming note: I’ll post the ‘Weekly recruiting roundup’ tomorrow.