Who will lead Terps' in-state recruiting efforts?
Former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin's recruiting mission was clear: build a wall around the state and rely on those local prospects to lead the Terps to championships.
Now that Franklin has left for Vanderbilt, Maryland must try to replace its top recruiter in the Baltimore-Washington area.
Rivals.com recruiting analyst Mike Farrell acknowledged that Ralph Friedgen’s staff missed on its fair share of in-state targets, but Franklin did a good job building relationships and earning the trust of high school coaches in the state. At first glance, no one on Randy Edsall’s staff seems to possess local roots.
“That’s the biggest concern of Maryland fans,” Farrell said. “Who’s going to establish the relationships at DeMatha, Good Counsel, Gilman and the other big-time programs in state? Who’s going to be the local go-to guy who can recruit all those schools? Where’s the local flavor on that staff? Who’s the guy that can go in and compete with schools coming in? Where’s the James Franklin on this coaching staff? Or for that matter, when you’ve got [Penn State defensive line coach] Larry Johnson coming in, who’s going to go against a guy who has local ties and coached high school football in Maryland?”
For 2011, the Terps’ in-state class will consist of four or five players. Maryland expects to receive letters of intent from Quince Orchard linebacker Alex Twine and DeMatha cornerback Michael Williams on Wednesday. Wide receiver Tyrek Cheeseboro (Milford Mill) and offensive lineman Nate Clarke (Archbishop Carroll) are Maryland natives who spent the fall semester at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy before enrolling in College Park last month. Bowie cornerback Jeremiah Hendy is a “soft commitment” who is also mulling offers from Iowa, North Carolina State and Virginia.
Tom Lemming, CBS College Sports Network and MaxPreps.com’s recruiting expert, said that Terps defensive line coach Greg Gattuso and running backs coach David Walker, both of whom were brought in from Pittsburgh, are strong recruiters, while offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who came from LSU, is known more for developing quarterbacks than recruiting them.
The other new members of Edsall’s staff are linebackers coach Todd Bradford, who had been the defensive coordinator at Southern Mississippi, special teams and outside linebackers coach Lyndon Johnson, the only member of Edsall’s former staff at Connecticut to join him, and tight ends coach John Dunn, who played at North Carolina and had been a graduate assistant working under Crowton at LSU.
Edsall rehired defensive coordinator Don Brown, who recruits Florida; wide receivers coach Lee Hull, who was assigned western Pennsylvania under Friedgen; and offensive line coach Tom Brattan, whose recruiting territory included Georgia and Virginia. Given the backgrounds of Gattuso and Walker in the Pittsburgh area, Hull seems to be a likely candidate to shift his recruiting efforts to Maryland. Whoever takes Franklin’s spot locally has his work cut out for him.
“You’ve got to mend fences a little bit,” Lemming said. “I think some guys [in Maryland] liked Friedgen, [who was] coming off [ACC] Coach of the Year honors. Maryland had a good year last year. There’s talent there. What [Edsall’s] really got to do is make sure the coaches at Good Counsel, DeMatha and Gilman are on your side. I’m not sure how many guys on his staff have local ties. I would’ve recommended he offer one of the super powers [of local high school football] a coaching job, even if they turned it down.”
DeMatha coach Bill McGregor said that Edsall has already visited DeMatha once and they had spoken “about five times” since Edsall was introduced as Maryland’s coach on Jan. 3. McGregor said Hull “has a great grasp of the area” from his years coaching at Holy Cross and Oregon State.
Bob Lichtenfels, Scout.com’s East region recruiting manager and a Pennsylvania resident, witnessed the recruiting prowess of Gattuso and Walker firsthand. He called both former Panthers assistants “very good recruiters,” noting that Walker might make sense as Franklin’s replacement in Maryland. Ultimately, the success of the Terps in Baltimore and Washington will depend on the man in charge.
“It might take [Maryland] a year or two to develop those inroads there,” Lichtenfels said. “But at the end of the day, as long as Randy Edsall himself makes a concerted effort talking to those coaches and reiterates how important they are to the program, it’s usually something that can be patched up pretty quickly.”
Baltimore Sun reporter Don Markus co-wrote this article.
Comments
They should hire high school coach George Petrides to recruit,,,or maybe former RB LaMont Jordan ??
Posted by: Cereal Blogger | February 1, 2011 3:25 PM
Of course getting these locals to stay home is a key area of concern, no one is complaining that our QB O'Brien is from NC or that other starters are out of state. Bottom line, get talent, local or otherwise.
Sometimes kids just want to get away when they go to college.
Posted by: BuddhaUMD | February 1, 2011 3:54 PM
Local kids means more local interest and more fans in the stands. Ralph was a great coach but he could not land the local talent and fill the stands. That is why he is gone. Randy better get some local talents or he will not complete his first contract.
Posted by: Big Willie | February 1, 2011 4:32 PM
Thanks Matt cant wait till tomorrow when everything is finalized. You do a great job. They should have on OK class and a little better if they can get Hendy back on board for tomorrow.
Posted by: Trevor | February 1, 2011 4:51 PM
Find a successful Football program and you will find that they have plenty of local talents. This is not basketball where you will only need 1-2 blue chippers to be successful. Maryland needs to keep most of them here. You always hear them talking about wanting to be near home so their friends and families can come and watch them. Yes, some people like to get away from home but not 18 of the top 20 local players. When Maryland was successful 10 years ago, we were able to recruit plenty of local talents. I hope the young coach that is being named as the Recruiting Coordinator will be the next coming of Franklin and Locks.
Posted by: Sean | February 1, 2011 9:24 PM
Maybe Coach Edsall should have the responsibility of recruiting Maryland directly if it is critical. Send assistants to scour other areas. Wasn't the Zeller family impressed with coach Edsall?
Posted by: John | February 2, 2011 8:12 AM
Actually, if you look at those 2001,02,03 teams you see a lot of out of state players who made that team what it was. I'm speaking of Shaun Hill, Melvin Folwer, Todd Wike, Jeff Dugan, Lamar Bryant, D'Qwell Jackson, Bruce Perry, Gullian Gary, etc.
Sometimes getting the 23rd player in PA is better than geting the #5 kid in MD.
Posted by: BuddhaUMD | February 2, 2011 9:44 AM
Local coaches liked Friedgen and Franklin? Then why did they lose all of the top players in the state every year? I don't like the hiring of Edsall, but he can't do worse on in state recruits than Fridge did. The whole downfall of Fridge was recruiting. He won with Vanderlinden's players, but the talent level dropped significantly under Friedgen. A new approach is needed because the old one stunk. I hope Edsall has some success where Franklin and Fridge could not.
Posted by: ebe | February 2, 2011 11:19 AM
ebe is correct. For all of the hype Franklin gets as a "great local recruiter," he never was able to put together classes with tons of top local recruits. This 2011 class with only 4 locals was put together by Friedgen, Franklin, and staff. Edsall wasn't going to get a bunch of in-state recruits with only one month of recruiting for UMD.
Posted by: Peter | February 2, 2011 12:18 PM
Coach Edsall's this year has to got who he can as a quick fixes, but next year he and his staff have to pick their states on the run to catchup fast. First they need to decide how many players they want and from what state. About five player from Penn, five to nine from VA, two to ten from NC,SC,GA,FL an the rest from Maryland, and DC. Next find a local sport figure (hopefully a terp alumni) to work the DC MD high school coaches an pull ten to fifteen player to play for the terps. Recruit like that for next three year to became a national power in football..
Posted by: Vinton A. Dalton | February 2, 2011 8:44 PM