Time for another football shell session as the football staff gets a step closer to being finalized and recruiting really ramps up this week.
Offensive Staff Complete
With the announcement that Joker Phillips will be the Terps' new WR coach, Locksley's offensive staff is now complete. It looks like this:
Scottie Montgomery - OC/QB
Joker Phillips - WR
Elijah Brooks - RB
John Reagan - OL
Mike Miller - TE
Of that group, Scottie Montgomery and Joker Phillips both have FBS head coaching experience, while those two, along with Reagan, all have experience as an FBS OC. That's an extremely experienced offensive staff. It should also be a strong group recruiting wise. Montgomery should be able to step right in and keep those relationships in North Carolina that Walt Bell had developed going strong. New TE coach Mike Miller should also help with recruiting North Carolina, having spent a year coaching high school football in the Queen City.
Joker Phillips should be another solid asset with regards to recruiting. He has years of experience recruiting down south and most recently spent time in Ohio on Luke Fickel's staff. His time as a WR coach in the NFL and stint with the Redskins as a WR himself, should give him some street cred here in the DMV.
Elijah Brooks was one of Locksley's first hires and would appear to be a home run hire as far as recruiting goes, having spent 8 years leading DeMatha, winning numerous WCAC titles and placing dozens of kids in the college ranks, including a number of current Terps. He could pay immediate dividends in recruiting with DeMatha products like Nick Cross and MarShawn Lloyd. He played RB himself at William & Mary and will look to coach up current Maryland stars and former DeMatha pupils Anthony McFarland and LoLo Harrison next season.
Reagan should be an asset in Philly, having coached at both UPenn and Temple. This group should have a strong presence in North Carolina once again and also ramp recruiting back up in Philly.
- The defensive staff technically has just Cory Robinson on board, but John Papuchis will likely coach one of the defensive positions, as well, although his current title is simply special teams coach. Robinson brings a strong presence in Baltimore, and has also recruited Philly and NJ. Papuchis is a Montgomery Co. native and will likely target that area and the surrounding areas in Maryland. So what remains? The Terps are still looking for the following: Defensive coordinator, D-Line coach, and possibly either a linebackers coach or safeties coach.
The biggest question mark remaining is who will be defensive coordinator. After it becoming clear that Dennard Wilson and Derrick Ansley seemed to be leaning towards staying in the NFL, Locksley began to focus on Tennessee safeties coach Charles Kelly, who previously served as Florida State's defensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher. But Kelly to Maryland wasn't to be, as Saban stepped in and swooped up Kelly at the 11th hour after unexpectedly losing Tosh Lupoi to the Cleveland Browns right as Kelly was set to join the Terps.
So who is Locksley targeting now for defensive coordinator? We aren't sure. No names have surfaced, although we are hearing he might have one or two candidates in mind. One name that would seem to fit somewhat in the mold of Wilson, Ansley and Kelly is recently fired Texas State head coach Everett Withers. He's had DC stints at Louisville, Minnesota, UNC and most recently Ohio St., where he also coached safeties. He also worked as a DB coach in the NFL with the Titans. He's available, he's experienced and has experience coaching safeties and running a 4-3, 4-2-5 multiple type defense. He would make a ton of sense.
One other name that might make sense is current Clemson DB coach Mike Reed. He's spent over a decade coaching DBs at the collegiate level and also has 5 years experience coaching DBs at the NFL level. Among those Reed has worked with at the college level are former Redskins DBs Baushad Breeland and David Amerson. He was also Brian Dawkins' position coach with the Eagles during his prime. Ohio St. head coach Ryan Day recently reached out about the possibility of him joining his staff as co-DC/DBs coach. He's another name that would make a lot of sense based on what Locksley seems to be targeting.
As for D-line coach, we continue to hear that the new defensive coordinator will have a say in his D-line coach and possibly his LB coach, as well. Stay tuned....
Recruiting Beginning to Pick Back Up
With the full offensive staff in place and only two more weekends remaining before the next signing period, recruiting is starting to pick up. After a relatively quiet weekend, Maryland is expected to host as many as 20 recruits this upcoming weekend, including several current unsigned commits.
Kam Blount - The local LB is coming off of an official visit to Georgia Tech this past weekend, his first. His mother spoke with our colleagues at the Ga. Tech site. New head coach Geoff Collins was recruiting Blount while at Temple. And although he doesn't have an offer from the Yellow Jackets yet, that seems to be a formality. He'll officially visit Maryland this upcoming weekend and also has visits set to Kent St. and UMass. Interestingly, his mom said they had been talking to linebackers coach John Papuchis.
Jordan Houston - The local three-star RB is coming off of an official visit to Michigan St. this past weekend and it sounds like the Spartans are putting on a full court press for his signature. Like Blunt, he's set to officially visit Maryland this weekend and is also visiting UMass.
Tank Land - We are also hearing that the Terps' highest rated current commit, Tank Land, is also expected to officially visit Maryland this weekend. Land is yet to sign with Maryland. He told Rivals last month that he would wait to meet with Locksley and the new defensive coordinator.
One other big name recruit that the Terps have been mentioned with is current FSU commit Nick Cross. He will take his final official visit to Penn State but Maryland continues to work hard to flip him and the Terps are very much still in the picture.
So where does this leave the Terps on the recruiting front? One area the Terps are expected to be extremely active is the transfer market. Locksley was unable to land Jalen Hurts, the top free agent of this offseason, but a number of other transfers are still serious possibilities for the Terps. Here are some possibilities.
Keandre Jones - The former Rivals 5-star and current Ohio St. linebacker has already been mentioned as a very likely candidate to join the Terps next season. He will need to graduate and then will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Sean Savoy - The Virginia Tech WR has placed his name in the transfer portal and has been linked to Maryland. In 2017 he had 39 catches for nearly 500 yards and 4 TDs. But he struggled some this past season and his brother was murdered back in Oct. of 2017.
Ayron Monroe - The Terps need safeties and Monroe, who's brother played at Maryland, has put his name in the portal. He's a graduate transfer who will be immediately eligible. He saw limited action at Penn State.
Zech McPhearson - Another Penn State DB grad transfer who saw limited action. He would be able to come in and immediately compete for playing time. Has a previous relationship with Locksley, so he could make sense.
Those are just a few transfers who have already put their names in the portal, would likely be able to play right away and could help immediately.
One thing to remember, is that transfers count against the max number of 25 incoming recruits. So Maryland could very easily have 10-15 or so incoming freshmen but then a number of incoming transfers, as well.
That's what I've got for now. Any questions, ask away.
Offensive Staff Complete
With the announcement that Joker Phillips will be the Terps' new WR coach, Locksley's offensive staff is now complete. It looks like this:
Scottie Montgomery - OC/QB
Joker Phillips - WR
Elijah Brooks - RB
John Reagan - OL
Mike Miller - TE
Of that group, Scottie Montgomery and Joker Phillips both have FBS head coaching experience, while those two, along with Reagan, all have experience as an FBS OC. That's an extremely experienced offensive staff. It should also be a strong group recruiting wise. Montgomery should be able to step right in and keep those relationships in North Carolina that Walt Bell had developed going strong. New TE coach Mike Miller should also help with recruiting North Carolina, having spent a year coaching high school football in the Queen City.
Joker Phillips should be another solid asset with regards to recruiting. He has years of experience recruiting down south and most recently spent time in Ohio on Luke Fickel's staff. His time as a WR coach in the NFL and stint with the Redskins as a WR himself, should give him some street cred here in the DMV.
Elijah Brooks was one of Locksley's first hires and would appear to be a home run hire as far as recruiting goes, having spent 8 years leading DeMatha, winning numerous WCAC titles and placing dozens of kids in the college ranks, including a number of current Terps. He could pay immediate dividends in recruiting with DeMatha products like Nick Cross and MarShawn Lloyd. He played RB himself at William & Mary and will look to coach up current Maryland stars and former DeMatha pupils Anthony McFarland and LoLo Harrison next season.
Reagan should be an asset in Philly, having coached at both UPenn and Temple. This group should have a strong presence in North Carolina once again and also ramp recruiting back up in Philly.
- The defensive staff technically has just Cory Robinson on board, but John Papuchis will likely coach one of the defensive positions, as well, although his current title is simply special teams coach. Robinson brings a strong presence in Baltimore, and has also recruited Philly and NJ. Papuchis is a Montgomery Co. native and will likely target that area and the surrounding areas in Maryland. So what remains? The Terps are still looking for the following: Defensive coordinator, D-Line coach, and possibly either a linebackers coach or safeties coach.
The biggest question mark remaining is who will be defensive coordinator. After it becoming clear that Dennard Wilson and Derrick Ansley seemed to be leaning towards staying in the NFL, Locksley began to focus on Tennessee safeties coach Charles Kelly, who previously served as Florida State's defensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher. But Kelly to Maryland wasn't to be, as Saban stepped in and swooped up Kelly at the 11th hour after unexpectedly losing Tosh Lupoi to the Cleveland Browns right as Kelly was set to join the Terps.
So who is Locksley targeting now for defensive coordinator? We aren't sure. No names have surfaced, although we are hearing he might have one or two candidates in mind. One name that would seem to fit somewhat in the mold of Wilson, Ansley and Kelly is recently fired Texas State head coach Everett Withers. He's had DC stints at Louisville, Minnesota, UNC and most recently Ohio St., where he also coached safeties. He also worked as a DB coach in the NFL with the Titans. He's available, he's experienced and has experience coaching safeties and running a 4-3, 4-2-5 multiple type defense. He would make a ton of sense.
One other name that might make sense is current Clemson DB coach Mike Reed. He's spent over a decade coaching DBs at the collegiate level and also has 5 years experience coaching DBs at the NFL level. Among those Reed has worked with at the college level are former Redskins DBs Baushad Breeland and David Amerson. He was also Brian Dawkins' position coach with the Eagles during his prime. Ohio St. head coach Ryan Day recently reached out about the possibility of him joining his staff as co-DC/DBs coach. He's another name that would make a lot of sense based on what Locksley seems to be targeting.
As for D-line coach, we continue to hear that the new defensive coordinator will have a say in his D-line coach and possibly his LB coach, as well. Stay tuned....
Recruiting Beginning to Pick Back Up
With the full offensive staff in place and only two more weekends remaining before the next signing period, recruiting is starting to pick up. After a relatively quiet weekend, Maryland is expected to host as many as 20 recruits this upcoming weekend, including several current unsigned commits.
Kam Blount - The local LB is coming off of an official visit to Georgia Tech this past weekend, his first. His mother spoke with our colleagues at the Ga. Tech site. New head coach Geoff Collins was recruiting Blount while at Temple. And although he doesn't have an offer from the Yellow Jackets yet, that seems to be a formality. He'll officially visit Maryland this upcoming weekend and also has visits set to Kent St. and UMass. Interestingly, his mom said they had been talking to linebackers coach John Papuchis.
Jordan Houston - The local three-star RB is coming off of an official visit to Michigan St. this past weekend and it sounds like the Spartans are putting on a full court press for his signature. Like Blunt, he's set to officially visit Maryland this weekend and is also visiting UMass.
Tank Land - We are also hearing that the Terps' highest rated current commit, Tank Land, is also expected to officially visit Maryland this weekend. Land is yet to sign with Maryland. He told Rivals last month that he would wait to meet with Locksley and the new defensive coordinator.
One other big name recruit that the Terps have been mentioned with is current FSU commit Nick Cross. He will take his final official visit to Penn State but Maryland continues to work hard to flip him and the Terps are very much still in the picture.
So where does this leave the Terps on the recruiting front? One area the Terps are expected to be extremely active is the transfer market. Locksley was unable to land Jalen Hurts, the top free agent of this offseason, but a number of other transfers are still serious possibilities for the Terps. Here are some possibilities.
Keandre Jones - The former Rivals 5-star and current Ohio St. linebacker has already been mentioned as a very likely candidate to join the Terps next season. He will need to graduate and then will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Sean Savoy - The Virginia Tech WR has placed his name in the transfer portal and has been linked to Maryland. In 2017 he had 39 catches for nearly 500 yards and 4 TDs. But he struggled some this past season and his brother was murdered back in Oct. of 2017.
Ayron Monroe - The Terps need safeties and Monroe, who's brother played at Maryland, has put his name in the portal. He's a graduate transfer who will be immediately eligible. He saw limited action at Penn State.
Zech McPhearson - Another Penn State DB grad transfer who saw limited action. He would be able to come in and immediately compete for playing time. Has a previous relationship with Locksley, so he could make sense.
Those are just a few transfers who have already put their names in the portal, would likely be able to play right away and could help immediately.
One thing to remember, is that transfers count against the max number of 25 incoming recruits. So Maryland could very easily have 10-15 or so incoming freshmen but then a number of incoming transfers, as well.
That's what I've got for now. Any questions, ask away.
