VIP: basketball portal frenzy, football portal efforts, NIL confidence

The latest premium notes on basketball, football and NIL.

Basketball portal frenzy continues

After being among the first schools to reach out, former South Florida guard Selton Miguel arrived in College Park on Sunday and will visit through Monday for his first visit since entering the transfer portal earlier this month. Maryland pounced on the reigning AAC Sixth Man of the Year and despite Miguel going through the NBA Draft process, the Terps enter the week as a big player in his recruitment with Oklahoma and Louisville among the long list of schools in the mix. Coming off an unofficial visit to USC, I’m also told that former UC-San Diego guard Bryce Pope is now expected to visit Maryland on Tuesday as Willard looks to wrap up the backcourt.

Meanwhile, former Wisconsin guard Connor Essegian wrapped up his Maryland visit on Saturday and, as expected, hit the road for more trips with his recruitment ongoing. Essegian is coming off a visit to South Carolina with the Gamecocks heavily involved, Michigan is expected to host him next weekend while the Hoosiers are bouncing around with the Indiana native keeping the door open on a return home.

How the backcourt ultimately shakes out remains to be seen, but Kevin Willard has experienced options that he and the staff will now work to close on. What about the frontcourt?

I’m hearing former Evansville forward Ben Humrichous has been in contact with Maryland as he goes through both the portal and NBA Draft process. Five-star Derik Queen will get a chance to make his commitment official during the signing period this month, Braden Pierce will now look to tap into his potential after a redshirt season, while both Julian Reese and Jordan Geronimo return for 2024-25. Maryland’s frontcourt has the size and inside scoring filled heading into the season but still, adding a stretch four would be the final piece and Humrichous fits the description perfectly. Humrichous shot 48.4% from the floor, including 41.4% from three, and averaged 14.8 points during his lone season with the program. But with Humrichous intent on the NBA process, the backcourt is likely to get finalized first with still time to find the stretch four to complement the rest of the roster.

Football portal set to open

Maryland wrapped up its first scrimmage over the weekend (notes here) and will host their second this upcoming Saturday, April 20 at Ballou High School (DC), but they’ll get a chance to restock the roster very soon. The spring college football transfer window is set to open on Tuesday and I’d expect Maryland to be a player at multiple positions. After already inking three strong candidates to start along the offensive line this season, finding another tackle to finalize the starting five is arguably the top priority this spring for Maryland with Alan Herron settling in at right tackle through spring ball. Whether it’s a left or right tackle remains to be seen, though left is the preference, but Maryland is moving full steam ahead toward securing its starting rotation. Maryland could add another one or two along the offensive line to round out the rotation, contingent on attrition.

Tai Felton and Kaden Prather have both picked right back up where they left off in 2023 with Prather stepping into the ‘teacher’ role in the room as freshman Mekhai White gets comfortable within the offense. Shaleak Knotts has been a continued standout through the first half of spring ball with Octavian Smith sporting the yellow jersey in practice, but adding another wideout to bolster the unit’s depth is a need going into the spring. That’s also the case at tight end, where Maryland has a host of young, emerging receiving threats but needs to find a blocker alongside AJ Szymanski to round out the room.

The front seven has showcased themselves as a clear strength and arguably the strongest its been under Mike Locksley with multiple returning starters back for 2024, and adding another defensive end to the rotation will solidify the rotation this fall. Glen Miller’s seamless transition next to Dante Trader Jr. has put confidence in the expected starting safeties, while former blue-chip safety Brandon Jacob has turned heads through his first spring ball. Jalen Huskey has been as advertised thus far in the cornerback room, Perry Fisher has also built off a strong bowl game and is coming off a productive first scrimmage after flashing as an outside corner in camp, but adding likely one more Huskey-level cornerback to the room is the focus on the defensive side of the ball.

Aside from a handful of players who faced a steep hill to playing time this season, I haven’t heard about rumblings of key players who are looking to depart in the wild free agency market. The portal closes on April 30, while graduate transfers have until May 1 to enter.

Confidence surrounding Maryland’s NIL

With basketball knee-deep in the portal frenzy and football’s set to begin, there’s been steady confidence surrounding Maryland’s NIL standing heading into the free agency market

Kevin Willard has three scholarships to work with and despite a disappointing year two, there’s still ample confidence that Maryland basketball has the funding to remain competitive in the open market with a need to upgrade the roster this offseason. With key booster support heading into year three, the lack of NIL hasn’t been a concern as the staff continues to navigate the portal frenzy. Meanwhile, Mike Locksley has teased the ‘Ode to Terp’ limited drop/release as fans look to finally get their hands on exclusive Terps’ merch. It’s also another way for fans to contribute to One Maryland as Maryland continues to find ways to maximize its outreach efforts in the current NIL era, but whether it’s from fans or donors, there’s also been steady optimism in the growing interest to buy into Maryland’s NIL initiative. Part of it is tied to Maryland maximizing its outreach with fans, but on the football side, part of it is also attributed to the increased buy-in in Locksley and the trajectory of the program. Locksley has kicked off year six as head coach and with NIL entering its third cycle, there’s confidence that Maryland has the funds to remain an active player in the spring portal window. We’ll get to see how that materializes beginning Tuesday.

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