Recruiting Q&A with Matt Bracken from the Baltimore Sun

Hey all, I've got something I'm really excited to share with you.

As a lot of you frequent readers know, I rave all the time about Recruiting Report, one of my essential reading stops for news on Terrapin recruiting and Maryland recruiting in general. Well a week or two ago, I e-mailed Matt Bracken, the guy who does all this footwork for your benefit, some questions about Maryland recruiting. Between all the holiday madness, he had time to dig up some answers for me and for you.

Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Bracken of The Baltimore Sun. Most of this information can be found on the site itself, by the way. I added the links myself - as in none of these are provided or necessarily advocated by Mr. Bracken.

1) Sean Mosley has performed well in some early games. Do you think that maybe some scouts are thinking his stock is going up?

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Mosley get a slight bump when the rankings are updated, but I don’t think he’ll make an enormous jump. All the recruiting sites/scouts are pretty much in agreement that Mosley is a top 50ish type talent that excels at the little things, has an unreal work ethic, is a leader on the floor, (insert additional basketball-speak cliché’), etc… The thing that might separate Mosley, from say, a top-25 player, is elite athleticism. He’s a great athlete, of course -- just a notch below the one-and-done-type guys. Nobody works harder than Mosley, though. He should make a significant impact for the Terps right off the bat next season.

2) I heard from your site that Augustus Gilchrist might have to wait another year to suit up for Maryland. Is there any way he can appeal and be on the bench by fall, or even this season?

It looks like the rule forcing Gilchrist to sit out and lose a year of eligibility (thanks to the intra-conference transfer from Virginia Tech to UM) was already in place – Maryland’s appeal to the ACC was rejected. That was the news that broke a couple weeks ago. So it appears that we won’t see Gilchrist on the court for the Terps until December or January of next season. Just like with Mosley, Gilchrist can’t see the floor for the Terps soon enough – I wouldn’t be surprised to see him starting as soon as he’s eligible.

3) I also heard from your site that Maryland lost the commit of (cornerback) Tavon Wilson to Illinois. Combined with the recruiting of star wideout Arrelious Benn and a few other Maryland guys, it seems like they have some connections in the D.C. area. Do you know any reason why they recruit so well out here?

The easy answer to that question is Mike Locksley, the current Illini offensive coordinator. Locksley spent six years as a Terps assistant starting in 1997. Locksley coached the running backs and was Maryland’s recruiting coordinator for five seasons, and evidently made a pretty strong impression on the D.C.-area coaches he came in contact with. I have no idea how he sold some of those players on Champaign with the Illini coming off multiple dreadful seasons, but the team’s quick turnaround and Rose Bowl appearance probably means that Locksley taking D.C. kids from Maryland is something Terps fan can continue to expect in the future. He was already a dynamic recruiter – now he’s got on-field results to point to. That said, the hiring of James Franklin from Kansas State should help stop the bleeding for Maryland. Franklin recruited D.C. and Prince George’s County during his previous stint as a Terps assistant. The Illini will still get the occasional D.C. guy, but Franklin will make things tougher.

4) Any updates on how Maryland's handling the recruiting of Kenny Tate? Is he leaning in any direction?

All is still quiet on the Kenny Tate front. He has officially visited Maryland and Illinois, with trips to Florida and Penn State still on tap. If there’s any recruit that will make an educated, informed decision, it’s Tate. He’s not the type of guy to get caught up in the hype of a single visit, so that’s a good thing for the Terps – the program he’s probably most familiar with. He’s really handled his recruitment in exemplary fashion. But any guess on my part would be pure speculation.

5) Assuming Gilchrist is out another year or so, might that leave open another spot on the roster? Is Maryland basketball recruiting over for 2008?

Gilchrist has a scholarship, so his eligibility status wouldn’t affect that. But with JuCo guard Bobby Maze’s commitment a couple weeks ago, the Terps are all filled up for 2008 – at least on paper. As Maryland fans know all too well, the team has had its fair share of struggles and there are some guys getting very few minutes. You can’t help but wonder if there will be some attrition from the roster. It’s pretty clear that Maryland will continue to recruit select guys. Ater Majok is the one big name remaining for 2008. He’s currently playing for something called the Heat Basketball Academy, which is an academics-optional basketball program based in Martinsville, Va. The Terps discovered Majok (who first committed to Baylor) before a lot of the other big boys, but now everyone is aware of the Sudanese (by way of Australia) big man.

Thanks Matt for helping us out!!!

Go Terps!!!

Photo Credits: The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Post

Win one, Lose one: The Norm

As you can see, I've really been slacking off lately and enjoying the holidays/winter break. Also, there wasn't much going on last week and between having already completed a bowl preview/being very upset about Maryland men's basketball, I found that the material was a little depleted.

However, Maryland had a BIG day today, playing in both a basketball game and a bowl game. One win, one loss. It's life.

MARYLAND V. DELAWARE: MEN'S BASKETBALL

So Part I of my day was spent in College Park, watching the Terps take on my mother's alma mater, Delaware and the Fightin' Blue Hens. My pregame ritual consisted mostly of praying that we would not drop another home non-conference game (Note the level of anger after the Ohio and American losses on this site).

Well, thank goodness they came through, winning 76-46. I stayed for every minute; I'll watch a game when the Terps can actually execute.

Observations:

- Witness four starters in double digits. The only one who didn't have double digits (Eric Hayes)
actually had a better game than the stats suggest, generally taking care of the ball, grabbing 7 rebounds and not being such a liability on defense. Meanwhile, Greivis Vasquez and James Gist actually took their mantles of leadership today: Gist had a double-double and 5 blocks (and the nasty, nasty dunk to the left) while Gravy had 18 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, going 7-for-11 from the field, plus 3 steals. Who said we should bench him? He's heating up, big-time.

- Rebounding went very well. The Terrapins held a 32-board advantage. When the bigs mishandled the balls, our guards were usually in position to grab the ball (Hayes, Vasquez and Adrian Bowie all got over five). Turnovers and inconsistent 3-point shooting are still glaring problems: They gave up 16 turnovers and only Vasquez made threes.

- Let's not forget, Delaware is a really terrible team. None of their players seemed particularly good at anything and they didn't really seem to have any kind of defensive plan of any kind. We honestly just bullied them and took their lunch money. FUN FACT: Delaware also lost to Ohio University. Maybe we should start a club.

But, as they say, a win is a win. The best thing we can take out of this is confidence and experience of being in rhythm and executing plays properly. I still think the tight zone will be problematic for Maryland, as their shooting is still suspect and you can't always expect Gist and Bambale to show up and dominate.

MARYLAND V. OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY: FOOTBALL

Well, you can't win 'em all.

I think Maryland was a heavy underdog to win this matchup with good reason - Oregon State is a good team. In the game, their passing game and the pretty poor composure of injury-replacement quarterback Sean Canfield left much to be desired, but their defense came to play. Our strength, the run, was completely taken away in the 21-14 loss. The score was close, but the level of play was not.

Observations:

- Maryland rushed for what I'm sure is a season-low 19 combined yards. Yuck. Meanwhile, OSU simply ran us over, gaining 275 yards on the ground. And it wasn't as if we weren't getting to them - let's just say that Coach Friedgen should stress tackling in the offseason. Some of what I saw was pretty poor. I mean, shouldn't you know how to wrap up if you're going to start? Diminutive rushers Yvenson Bernard and James Rodgers broke defenders through like Earl Campbell clones. I'm not doubting the talent, but they definitely should've been taken down much earlier on several of their long runs.

- Napolean Dynamite lookalike Chris Turner (feel free to click and compare) had an OK day, going for 205 yards and two TDs and two INTs. As average as he was, he wasn't helped by his wideouts (excluding Darrius Heyward-Bey, who almost broke the century mark and hauled in a 63-yard pass that'was actually a really nice burn). Lots of fingers will be pointing to the wet weather, but I saw an awful lot of drops when the ball hit both of the receiver's hands. The rule tends to be if it hits two hands, you catch it.

Otherwise, well, at least it was close. We came out strong, but finished poorly, like many games this season. I think our level of play just about corresponded to where we ended up. 6-7 is not pretty, but neither was watching the Terps for most of this season. Too many injuries, poor fundamentals and an anemic passing offense couldn't equal a successful season. Try again next year!

By the way, in case you haven't heard, we may have some decent help next year. Former Terp wideout coach James Franklin makes a triumphant return to Maryland as O-ccordinator. As Recruiting Report notes, he's a two-time top-25 Rivals.com recruiter. Cool, right? Maybe we'll stop losing football recruits to Illinois. Also, this means Friedgen will no longer have to call plays. I think that makes us all breathe slightly easier.

Overall, a decent day: Both teams essentially did what they were expected to. For football, good luck next year and for basketball - let's keep playing at that level.

Go Terps!

Photo Credits: Washington Post, Baltimore Sun