By Adam Hensley
Football recruiters scour the country looking for the top prospects, often snagging commitments from across the nation.
That’s not how Maryland and head coach D.J. Durkin recruit.
Entering his second year as the head coach of the Terrapins, he wants to feast on the local talent, keeping the team’s native ties firm.
“I really feel like in our backyard, there’s a strong group of talent every year, year in and year out, that if you do well in your backyard, you can survive on and win a lot of games, win championships with,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s the case everywhere.”
It’s a sense of rebranding, not necessarily creating a new image or culture but bringing the team closer with each local recruit.
Maryland has 27 incoming freshmen officially enrolled for the upcoming semester. Of that group, eight are from the area, five from Virginia, and three from Washington, D.C., and 17 of the 27 incoming freshmen come from the region.
“I grew up watching Maryland football,” linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. said. “I want to see this program go in the right direction, and I want us to win, and [local] recruiting is the start of winning.”
Carter, who racked up 101 tackles last season (including 6 sacks), wants to breed a sense of togetherness on the team, and snagging prospects from nearby areas creates that dynamic.
“If everyone from the area comes together, it’s a different bond,” he said. “They’re kind of like brothers.”
Through the first four games of 2016, it appeared that even with a new head coach in Durkin, the Terrapins played like a cohesive unit, starting out 4-0.
The next nine games didn’t go according to that script, however, as Maryland dropped seven of those contests. In three-consecutive games — loses to Michigan, Ohio State, and Nebraska — the Terrapins were outscored 149-13.
Maryland finds itself with a tougher nonconference schedule than last season, starting with a trip to Texas to face the Longhorns.
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The Terrapins will face Minnesota, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin in the first four games of Big Ten play. Those teams combined for 38 wins last season.
While the tough slate of games is daunting, most of the key producers from the 2016 campaign return. Junior running back Ty Johnson, a 1,000-yard back, will try to build on a season in which he averaged 9.1 yards per rush.
Wide receiver D.J. Moore ranked seventh in the conference with 6 receiving scores, sixth in yards per catch (15.5), and fourth in kickoff-return average (22.3).
Johnson and Moore are member of an offense in the midst of a quarterback battle after Perry Hills graduated. As the door opens for another quarterback to take control, Moore believes there is a great potential to expand the offense.
“We think like we can take downfield shots more than we did last year,” he said. “Now, we can open up the playbook and have some downfield shots.”
Last season, six different Terrapins attempted a pass, including Moore. Maryland threw for an average of 178.2 yard per game in 2016 — better than only Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Rutgers — and managed to score 15 touchdowns through the air.
The potential for Maryland football is there. A fresh start at quarterback combined with emerging offensive playmakers, veterans on defense, and a strong, local batch of incoming freshmen provide Terrapin fans with hope of competing with some of the top teams in the Big Ten.