2025 Bullis guard Adrien Stephens was already familiar with Maryland and the coaching staff given assistant David Cox has made his way through Bullis to watch the 6-foot-4 guard in open gyms this past season. Assistant Mike Jones’ presence at Maryland gives Stephens another connection to the program considering the then-sophomore guard unofficially visited Blacksburg back in November. With the staff showing consistent interest, Stephens made his way to College Park on Monday when the Terps ultimately pulled the trigger on his second verbal offer.
“Very exciting experience. Really cool to see the facilities,” Stephens told IBG. “Not my first time meeting the coaches but it was good to see them again.” The rising junior got a chance to watch former local stars now transition to college with summer workouts now in full swing.
“It was more like I got to watch the other players already at Maryland like Jahn [Lamothe] and Jamie [Kaiser]. I got to watch them workout and it was cool to watch them workout because as a high school basketball player myself, they were in high school last year so it was just cool to watch them at the next level. And then Jahmir [Young], it was cool to watch him because my trainer also works him out so I think I can be that type of player one day. We just basically watched the players work out, we were talking at the end.”
Adrien Stevens with the posterizer earlier at Summer League. His breakout play is a big reason Bullis are sitting at 7-0 looking to grab a 1 seed. pic.twitter.com/vWqzZlk0ov
— Capitol Hoops (@CapitolHoops) June 9, 2023
Stephens closed out the visit with a sit down with the coaching staff before getting the good news, giving the staff a viable local target. “They said they liked my size. I have a Big Ten type of body. My physicality, my mindset towards defense, they’re looking for that and also how I can be a combo guard at that level and make plays for myself and make plays for others handling the ball.”
NJIT extended an offer to Stephens heading into his sophomore season, Loyola (MD) extended an offer on Tuesday while Virginia is among the schools showing interest, but Stephens admitted that picking up an offer from the hometown school gave him a “surreal experience.”
“It’s just the hometown team. Growing up watching them, watching the good teams like when Melo Trimble was there, other players of that nature. Thinking about it as a kid, it’s like ‘wow, it’d be crazy if I got an offer from them one day’ but it’s a reality now. That doesn’t end the road for me as far as I need to stop working, relaxing.”
Maryland will get another chance to connect with Stephens on Thursday, when college coaches can begin directly contacting 2025 prospects, before the staff watches him action during this upcoming weekend’s DMV Live.
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