Head coach Mark Turgeon and the Terps hosted a pair of official visitors last weekend as La Lumiere (NY) four-star point guard JJ Starling made the trip to College Park. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard raved about his first official visit as the Terps rolled out the red carpet.
“It went amazing. Great people and a great staff. It’s just a nice campus and everything,” Starling told Inside the Black & Gold. Former assistant Bino Ranson was the prior lead recruiter in Starling’s recruitment before Ranson accepted a position at DePaul. But for Starling, the interest and consistency from the Terps never wavered as Starling reiterated that Turgeon played an active role in getting him to campus.
“Coach Bino, like you said, he was recruiting me heavy like really hard. He was a really good guy but once he left, the other coaches stepped in and did the same thing. Coach [Mark] Turgeon called more, it’s not like he wasn’t calling me before but he was calling me a lot more. Same with the assistant coaches so the recruitment didn’t really stop. Coach [Matt] Brady, coach [Danny] Manning is starting to now since I got to see him face-to-face and meet him so I got his number. He actually just texted me a couple of minutes ago, just checking in how my weekend is going.”
The message from Maryland was crystal clear to Starling as he recapped the visit.
“I would say that they definitely want me badly. Their role for me is ideally what I want so that’s what they expressed, that was their pitch. They were like you’re going to be able to come in and do what you do best, which is score the ball.” Starling got a chance to run pick-up with the team to gauge the on-court chemistry with the current players. “When I ran with the team, I fit in like they said I’d be able to do which is score. They made some good passes, I felt like I fit well with the team. It was a really good run.”
Freshmen Marcus Dockery and James Graham hosted Starling this weekend, but it was the message from Graham that resonated with the four-star prospect. “James, especially, since he’s around my age. He was like I just clicked with the coaches, I knew that I could fit well in the program with his play style and stuff so that’s why he told me he fit there. He told me I see why, coaches give us freedom and doesn’t put his chains on you so I liked it.”
With the visit to Maryland now in the rear-view mirror, Starling has official visits set with Alabama, Syracuse, and UConn while Duke and Stanford have shown increased interest. The Blue Devils are more of a wildcard this offseason with coach Mike Krzyzewski retiring at the end of the upcoming season, but head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer has stayed consistent with Starling’s high school coaches.
“We’re going to do a Zoom but they have been recruiting me hard. Coach [Jon] Scheyer has been recruiting me since sophomore year and saying how they really want me, so we’ll see how the Zoom goes.”
As Starling embarks on his remaining official visits, there’s a handful of questions that he plans to ask coaches and players. “How much freedom are you going to give me to do what I do best and help my team win. I’m definitely going to ask what do they see me playing, what position, and the role they see me having. I’m definitely going to ask the players what the coaches told them before they came and whether the coaches held true to what they said.”
With his eyes set on five-star status, Starling added he is “not in a rush” to trim down his list or make a commitment as he’s remained consistent to stay in the weight room and gym to improve his game.
“I’ve just been trying to get better so in my mind, I’m just focused on getting into the gym and winning.”
Starling is rated a four-star prospect and a 94 overall by 247Sports, sitting as the 11th-best point guard in the country.