With the early signing period officially over, Maryland football head coach Mike Locksley and his staff have put the bow on a 20-man class that sets the foundation for the future of the program.
Headlined by a pair of consensus four-star prospects, Maryland inked a consensus top-35 class with ESPN ranking the haul at 22nd nationally, the highest among the outlets. Maryland landed at 29th on 247 and 30th on Rivals with On3 the most bearish at 34th nationally. Within the Big Ten, the current class ranks in the middle of the pack across the outlets with ESPN at eighth, On3 at 11th and both 247 and Rivals at tenth, but still, the Terps were able to address several key positions.
And an almost equally important development – over half of the signees will arrive on campus in late January in QB Malik Washington, SAF Messiah Delhomme, OT Jaylen Gilchrist, QB Jackson Hamilton, RB Iverson Howard, DL Bryce Jenkins, DL Dante Recker, ILB CJ Smith, ATH Zymear Smith, OLB Sidney Stewart and OLB Nahsir Taylor.
QB Malik Washington, who spurned late interest from both Michigan and Penn State, was among the recruits introduced during the second half of the basketball win vs. Ohio State the night of signing day.
“We spent every Sunday for the most part of this season where we’d watch his tape. He'd watch our games. Because after every game, when you got a guy like that committed, people would call and say, ‘Man, you don't want to go there. They suck. They're not this.’ And then he had a chance to watch every play,” head coach Mike Locksley said on signing day. “We didn't hide from what we put on tape and he had a chance to see and learn what this system is about or will and can be about. And I think that in itself showed me who he was. He's a special kid, man, and I'm really excited to have a chance to coach him and he was a guy that we targeted a long time ago – to come in here and help us elevate this program.”
It also helped that Maryland football was in improved NIL standing compared to a year ago, evidenced by the eventual signing of blue-chip tackle Jaylen Gilchrist over SEC suitors. That’s expected to continue heading into the current offseason as the staff may be the most aggressive its been in the portal era.
“We've also kind of went and now have been afforded the resources to go get a guy like a Jaylen Gilchrist, who before, I couldn't go get Jaylen a year ago. I can go get Jaylen now. And that's due to what our administrators have been able to do, what our supporters have been able to do, to give us the resources to go get the type of players we're going to need to compete in the Big Ten and be competitive.”
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