Recruiting Report: Good Counsel OL Mike Madaras talks Terps pledge - Terps, basketball, football and college recruiting news in the Baltimore area from Matt Bracken

Sifting through more than 20 scholarship offers, fielding hourly phone calls from college coaches, and scheduling campus visits can be a daunting task for any highly touted football prospect.

For Good Counsel offensive lineman Mike Madaras, going through all that just didn’t seem to be worth the trouble – especially considering his mind was made up early on in the recruiting process.

“It was pretty tempting [to prolong the recruiting process],” Madaras said Monday. “But I knew at the end I was probably going to end up at Maryland, so I saved a lot of time by just committing.”

Madaras, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound junior, became the first member of Maryland’s 2012 recruiting class last week when he pledged to the Terps over Central Florida, Duke, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, Stanford, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin, among others.

A two-year starter on the Falcons’ offensive and defensive lines, Madaras has demonstrated a sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde persona to Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy. On the field, Madaras’ intense play was rewarded with a Washington Post All-Met honorable mention nod. Off the field, the future Terp is a thoughtful scholar who’s considering a major in mechanical engineering.

“He’s a great player and he’s a better kid. He’s the nicest gentleman you’ll ever meet,” Milloy said. “He’s a very smart kid, a very good student, and a very considerate, nice young man. … He’s like Clark Kent. When he puts in the mouthpiece, be ready to play, because he’s going to come after you. He puts his helmet on, and he changes personalities. He plays hard, and when the game is over, he’s just a nice, sweet little boy. He’s a different guy.”

Falcons defensive line coach Kevin McFadden said Madaras is a dominant offensive line prospect with pro potential. It was no surprise to him that Madaras landed so many scholarship offers so early in the process.

“[Madaras has] great hip flexibility, great feet, of course his wing span and the level of aggressiveness that he has [stands out],” McFadden said. “Mike’s a basketball player, too, so he’s got good feet. Notre Dame offered him as a guard because he was able to switch directions, plant his feet in the ground and get up field right away. Then he was able to switch his feet and switch to the next defender. You don’t see that at this level out of a high school player that much.”

Madaras landed an offer from Maryland during Ralph Friedgen’s tenure, but his interest in the Terps picked up considerably once Randy Edsall took over in College Park.

“I just love the new coaching staff,” Madaras said. “They’re doing a really good job there with what they have there. I’m really excited to play for Coach Edsall and definitely [offensive line coach Tom] Brattan.”

Winning a third-straight Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship is Madaras’ No. 1 priority at the moment, which makes his commitment to Maryland well before his senior season an enormous relief.

“I feel like 100 pounds has been taken off my shoulders,” Madaras said. “But I’m just glad that it’s all over so I can just focus on school now.”