Weekly recruiting roundup
Maryland landed a commitment Monday from Jake Layman, pairing the four-star small forward with four-star center Shaquille Cleare and three-star combo guard Seth Allen in its 2012 recruiting class.
The next position that could be addressed in the Terps' class is shooting guard. Terry Henderson from Neuse Baptist Christian School in Raleigh, N.C., set up official visits this week to Boston College, George Mason, Maryland, Miami and Richmond, according to ScoutsFocus.com's Joe Davis. Henderson's College Park trip is scheduled for Sept. 30.
Christian Sanders, a three-star shooting guard and Cleare's Houston Defenders teammate, is also still reportedly in the mix for Maryland. He's scheduled for an official visit to Colorado this weekend.
ESPN.com's Adam Finkelstein, meanwhile, provided a short-term and long-term analysis on Layman's Terps pledge.
Short term: Another definite recruiting victory for a suddenly very hot Mark Turgeon. Layman is the No. 53-ranked player in the ESPNU 100 and his commitment boosts Maryland's class into the top 10 in the country. Here's the thing with Layman though, Terps fans are going to need to be patient. While incredibly talented, he's still fairly raw and not used to high-level competition outside of the AAU circuit. Consequently, his learning curve may be a little longer than most would expect from a borderline top 50 prospect.
• DeMatha forward Jerami Grant, who earlier this week was seriously considering the Terps, is now down to three Big East schools.
Syracuse, Notre Dame and Rutgers (in order of appearance) will conduct in-home visits with ESPNU 100 SF Jerami Grant (Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha) beginning Friday and by all accounts, any of them could land him.
• The Detroit News' Sam Webb wrote about Michigan's chances with Brewster (N.H.) Academy center Mitch McGary, getting extensive thoughts on the five-star player's recruitment from his SYF Players AAU coach Wayne Brumm.
"Obviously, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Florida have had tremendous success. (Florida coach) Billy Donovan has been a great communicator and he sort of gets the vision from Mitch. (Maryland coach) Mark Turgeon is a lot like (Michigan coach John) Beilein. He is a basketball (mind). Beilein and Turgeon feel most comfortable when they're locked in a gym with their guys. They just get guys better.
• Terps wing target Andrew White has set three official visits.
The Miller School (Va.) senior wing, whose stock soared as much as just about anyone's this past summer, will visit Kansas (9-23), Texas (9-30) and Louisville (10-14), according to coach Scott Willard.
Football recruiting
• Maryland-bound linebacker Shawn Petty was mentioned several times in a Greenbelt Patch story about the Eleanor Roosevelt football team.
“Hopefully we can get further this season than we got last season,” Petty said. “The team’s really excited and we’ve been working hard all summer getting ready for the season.”
• Gilman junior linebacker Micah Kiser talked about his three offers -- Florida, Maryland and Virginia -- in an interview with ESPN.com.
Maryland: "I've talked to coach [Randy] Edsall. He's a really good guy. I like him a lot. I talked to coach [Andre] Powell the other day. I like his personality."
• The Washington Post's Josh Barr discussed Good Counsel receiver Stefon Diggs' interest in the Terps and more in a Recruiting Insider Live video feature.
Comments
Who wouldn't want to play for these wonderful family feel coaches at Maryland. We will have in Dec. The Terps Women and Men Basketball Rank in the top 25 and The football team at the same time when have we had this before. Finale 5 for Basketball G Allen, G Saunders, SF Layman, PF McGary and C Cleare.
Posted by: coach hall | September 9, 2011 12:44 PM
Hey Matt.. Get any sense who has the edge on McGary???
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steveinboston: Can't say that I do. I really think it's up in the air. -- Matt
Posted by: steveinboston | September 9, 2011 12:51 PM
To begin, again and as always, thanks Matt for the great coverage. Your Recruiting Report blog, to me, is easily the most informative and enjoyable section of The Sun.
Well, after all of that speculation, it appears that Grant can be safely scratched off of Maryland's list. As for Layman, I'm glad to see that there's some insightful information from an outside purported expert to hopefully temper some Terps fans' expectations for the kid. His ranking is similar to what Parker's and Mosely's were coming out of HS (actually, I believe the 2 of them were in the low to mid-40's). He needs to be able to develop in his own way and at his own pace. Such development cannot be forced.
With all of the excitement surrounding Maryland's recruiting, turning towards this year's team and its potential, I would like to see Parker make a significant leap this year in his development. Such marked improvement from him--similar to that which occurred previously with Milbourne--could prove to be an "x" factor in whatever on-court success this team experiences.
And, speaking of Parker, I wonder if his freshman struggles have had and/or may have upon White's attraction, if any, to the Terps? As for the Terps' active recruitment of him, while I have previously read about Maryland as an interested school with him, I'm not certain if that interest has truly ever been reciprocated by White. Nevertheless, seeing a former teammate strapped to the bench as Parker was last season has to resonate with him at some level.
As for the other, "offered" guards, both look like solid recruits. Henderson's player profile looks to me to be very similar to Drew Nicholas'. I suspect, however, that Turgeon has probably invested more time and energy in Sanders' recruitment.
Now, let's just sit back and see what happens with the two of them, as well as with either Jefferson or McGary.
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Terp'n Texas: Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated, as always. -- Matt
Posted by: Terp'nTexas | September 9, 2011 1:37 PM
I'm not surpirsed about Grant. He and Layman would seem destined to play the same position in college. Layman has played point guard, 2guard and SF enabling him to aid in breaking the press and he has a reputation for decent shooting range. Grant has talent but he's primarily been a PF and has more limited shooting range and ball handling skills. I think Turgeon got who he wanted and used Grant for leverage a little bit. I am surprised we have not heard how Jefferson's visit went though. Either Jefferson or McGary would be a home run and both would compliment the existing class well. Either could fit in as the PF and a third big guy to augment Len and Cleare is necessary. Not sure I see much value in another shooting guard. Faust solves that need for awhile.
Posted by: johnny c | September 9, 2011 2:00 PM
When is McGary scheduled to visit?
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Josh: Not positive on that. I'll let you know when I hear something though. -- Matt
Posted by: Josh | September 9, 2011 2:32 PM
Hi Matt,
Not sure I get your emphasis on a shooting guard. I would think that Turgeon's priority would be different than that.
1) Power forward, especially McGary, whom Turgeon could run the offense through, and secondarily Macon/Carter.
2) Small forward/power forward combo. Jefferson/Macon
3) Small forward/shooting guard combo. White would be nice.
4) shooting guard. If we can't get a comb wing, than shooting guard is okay, but shooting guard has it's problems, namely:
a) That gives us 4 guards vieing for playing time, and unlikely to grab both Harrison twins. The Harrisons want to play together, as I understand it, and although one is a 2/3 combo, the other is a point guard. That would give us essentially 6 guards! Its not going to happen. That's why I'd rather we didn't get a pure two.
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OrioleFan1: Those are fair points. I'm just going by Henderson's official visit being set up, but I'm sure that if the staff had to prioritize, landing McGary would be No. 1. I think they'll take two more players in this class, a shooting guard and a power forward. -- Matt
Posted by: OrioleFan1 | September 10, 2011 9:03 AM
....sorry........forgot one guard...with the Harrison twins (2013) we would have 7 guards if we got a pure two in 2012.
Stoglin (Sleepy)
Howard
Seth Allen
Faust
2012 guard
Andrew Harrison
Aaron Harrison
Mind you, both one Harrison would be a 2/3 and Faust would be a 2/3 but we would also have a three in Layman and Parker with Layman as the only 3 with size. Were better off getting another 3 or 3/4 with size and quick feet, than a two, imo.
Posted by: OrioleFan1 | September 10, 2011 9:18 AM