“He didn’t come into the season as a three- or four-star recruit,” Kelley said. “He didn’t have all this pressure to make plays. He had the ability to make plays and not worry about, ‘if I miss this tackle, I’m not going to get this scholarship.’ We told him the whole time that once he got his first offer – I think it was UMass – once that comes, that’s when they all come. If you get one offer, the dominoes start to fall. He didn’t play with that pressure.”

Twine thrived this season under the tutelage of Kelley, a standout linebacker-defensive end at Seneca Valley who played collegiately at Towson. After Kelley graduated, a succession of coaching jobs followed. He spent one year as Wesley College’s linebackers coach, two years as a graduate assistant at Maryland and two years as the defensive line coach at North Carolina Central.

After landing the Quince Orchard defensive coordinator job two years ago, Kelley immediately went to work installing a package with the sophistication of a college program. It was a system that Twine seemed built for.

“He allowed us to use multiple fronts,” Kelley said. “If that’s what you’re trying to do, you’re only going to have a lot of success defensively if … [you have] a linebacker that can line up the right way, with the ability to [succeed whether] you’re playing a spread team or a power football team. If they try to run the ball, he has to be in the game all the time. [Some defenses] would substitute someone at linebacker playing against a spread team. But we don’t have to do that. We can stay in multiple fronts because of his ability to play in coverage successfully and play the run successfully. That’s a big advantage there. He can be physical in the run game and does a great job in pass coverage.”

Twine’s versatility was on display throughout the Cougars’ 9-3 season, which ended with a 33-14 loss to Damascus in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs. Against the Hornets, Twine was charged with a variety of challenging assignments.

“There was a play where his responsibility was to cover the No. 2 receiver all over the field,” Kelley said. “If [the receiver] runs straight on a vertical route, [Twine] has to shade him the whole way down the field. Keep in mind that Alex is 6-1, 210, and the kid that he was lined up on was 5-8, 165 and could run pretty fast. The kid runs a vertical route, the quarterback makes the throw and Alex extends his whole body, lays out and deflects the pass. If he hadn’t deflected the pass, it’s a touchdown. That’s a guy 210 pounds running 40 yards down the field with a little scatback and making a great play on the ball.”

Kelley said Twine was disappointed about Ralph Friedgen’s dismissal from Maryland, but said the linebacker will “make the best” of the coaching situation. No matter who leads the Terps next season, Kelley expects the new coach to be pleased with Twine’s potential.

“I think he has a big upside,” Kelley said. “He just turned 17 years old. Most kids aren’t going to mature until they hit that growth spurt, and at 18 or 19 they gain more strength in the weight room. For him, he just played the whole year at 16. Most guys that are 16 are sophomores, maybe juniors. His best football is without question ahead of him.”