Terps lose OL commitment
With just two days left before Signing Day, Maryland has suffered its first decommitment of the 2009 football recruiting class.
North Allegheny (Pa.) offensive lineman Ryan Schlieper was offered a scholarship by Pittsburgh late last week, took a visit to campus over the weekend and pledged to the Panthers tonight.
“The reason why I decommitted from Maryland and committed to Pitt is because [playing at] Pitt was a long-time, childhood dream of mine,” Schlieper said. “I always wanted to play for Pitt. I’ve grown up watching Pitt and rooting for Pitt.”
Schlieper, whose high school is less than 30 minutes away from Pitt’s campus, insisted he had nothing against the Maryland program. He just couldn’t turn down the opportunity to play for his hometown team.
“I was completely happy with Maryland and thought it was the greatest thing ever,” Schlieper said. “I was done with everything in recruiting. Then all of a sudden I get a call from Pittsburgh. And I thought to myself, ‘this is your school, this is where you wanted to be and what you’ve wanted to do all your life.’”
Schlieper initially picked Maryland in August after considering offers from Connecticut, West Virginia, Central Florida, Florida International, Miami (OH) and Temple.
• Maryland lost out on the battle for Hoboken (N.J.) defensive tackle Isaac Holmes tonight when the 6-foot-3, 295-pounder committed to Rutgers. UM and Pittsburgh were Holmes’ other finalists.
"His last visit was to Rutgers and the Rutgers coaches were able to get him to flip," Rivals.com analyst Mike Farrell told NJ.com. "It's huge because he's a four-star in-state player and he's a defensive tackle -- and good defensive tackles are hard to find."
• Click here to read Q&As, season recaps and commitment stories on each of UM’s 2009 recruits.
Comments
Hey Matt!
Great job - thanks for all the information you provide.
While Schlieper hurts because he's an OL, He wasnt so highly rated that we cant find better down the road.
Losing Holmes hurt - could have helped with rebuilding and upgrading the DL - what happened? "Rutgers coaches getting him to flip" indicates we might have been in the lead for him? Can you provide some details?
Whats the latest on Travis Hawkins?? I know he's "committed" and the coaching staff is working hard to keep him, but it worried me recently when I read he still planned a visit to another school (cant remember which school...)
Finally are there any 'surprise signings' RF might have in store for us tomorrow night? (Of course if there is, you cant tell us can you?) Would love to see us add at least one top 100 HS player or 4/5 star somewhere in this recruiting class...am I dreaming?
Posted by: terps06 | February 3, 2009 8:28 AM
Terps06 -- Thanks for the kind words. I spoke to Quince Orchard's coach last week, and he said Hawkins was completely solid with Maryland. Not sure what happened with Holmes. Sounds like he just wanted to stay close to home. Pete White, an OL from DC, is UM's best chance at landing a last-minute four-star player.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | February 3, 2009 11:25 AM
Pete WHITE says hello
Posted by: tony | February 3, 2009 11:02 PM