While there won't be a quantum leap, look for a noticeable boost in the quality of Maryland's football recruiting class, to be announced tomorrow.
With the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and subsequent trip to the Orange Bowl in tow, the team's coaching staff has made great headway with high-profile recruits. The group of players actually signing letters of intent with the Terrapins likely will rate in the middle of the pack in the ACC, but it should be the best talent in recent years.
"If we can close with some of the ones we want, it will be an exceptional class," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said last week, "but regardless, it will be a good year."
A group of defensive players - end Randy Earle from Farmingdale, N.Y., and linebackers D'Qwell Jackson of Seminole, Fla., Shawne Merriman of Upper Marlboro and Reggie Holmes of Bowie - highlights the list of probable signees for Maryland, which aimed to replace five linebackers and improve team speed.
The Terps, whose class is rated 29th in Division I-A by Rivals.com, are still reportedly in contention for Tampa, Fla., teammates Oliver Hoyte, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound linebacker, and Brian Clark, a 6-3, 185-pound wide receiver, both of whom are deciding between Maryland and North Carolina State.
The key effect of Maryland's dream season is that the coaching staff now competes against brand-name schools longer, getting visits from players who eventually sign elsewhere, but would not have considered the school in previous years.
"Normally, by Week 4 [of the season], if you're not an early hot name, players start telling you you're not in the final whatever," said Mike Locksley, Maryland's running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. "The immediate impact is that it's kept us in the dance in the entire recruiting process."
Leon Washington, regarded as the top cornerback prospect in the country, visited the Terps on Jan. 4, the day after they returned to College Park from the Orange Bowl. Maryland was the first school to offer a scholarship to the Jacksonville, Fla., resident, who appreciated what he thought was an honest approach from the team's coaches.
"They were straight up - `We want you here and we need you here,' " said Washington, who eventually crossed the Terps off his list and is choosing between South Carolina and Florida State. "I went to Oklahoma first, and I liked Maryland better than Oklahoma, and then I went to Florida and said that Florida was better than Maryland."
