Maryland will welcome several local recruits to campus this weekend on the football side, one top basketball target is set to announce while another target makes his way to College Park for an official visit. We break down the latest notes:
One week after visiting Miami (FL) with teammates, current commit Larry Tarver is slated to arrive back in College Park for the first time since announcing his commitment in June. Two more who could come with him? Four-star cornerback Jamari Howard and Pitt verbal Jeremiah Marcelin, a pair of Tarver’s new teammates.
Maryland was in the top group for Marcelin back in the summer with Pitt and Louisville the main competition, but defensive coordinator Brian Williams has still kept an open line of communication between the two with Marcelin’s recruitment still slightly open. Florida State has the current buzz for Howard, a former Michigan State verbal, while Miami (FL) made their pitch following last week’s win vs. Texas A&M. The visit isn’t set in stone yet, but the four-star prospect has been consistently hearing from Maryland since the summer as an unofficial visit was on the table heading into the fall.
But the bulk of this weekend’s visitors will be local targets, with guys like four-star Jaelyn Harvey, 2025 Maret (DC) IOL Grayson Reid and 2026 WR Chris Hewitt. Maryland verbal Keyshawn Flowers is expected back on campus for his first game of the season, while 2025 four-star quarterback Malik Washington and three-star cornerback Jayden Shipps will likely make their way back to campus as well. I wouldn’t be shocked to see 2025 four-star Iverson Howard make his way to campus for his first game of the season as the top local target has been able to build relationships with both outside linebacker coach James Thomas, the lead recruiter, and running backs coach Latrell Scott.
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On the basketball side, decision day has arrived for Overtime Elite four-star Jaeden Mustaf with Maryland, Indiana, NC State, Georgia Tech, Arkansas and Florida State in the final group. Maryland was the last school to host him with assistant coach Mike Jones around the family from beginning to end, hoping the summer-long pursuit could materialize into an athletic guard to jumpstart Maryland’s 2024 class.
Mustaf is set to announce at the OTE Arena in Atlanta, Georgia at 1:30 PM today, but the Terps are trending away from the Bowie native and aren’t expected to be the pick with Mustaf expected to officially inform coaches on Thursday morning. After moving on from Daquan Davis, another Overtime Elite guard, and in line to miss on Mustaf, Maryland will shoot for the moon when they host five-star Boogie Fland for an official visit later this month.
Fland took his official visit to Kentucky last weekend and will head to Alabama next weekend before closing out the month with his first trip to Maryland. St. John’s, Indiana and North Carolina are also in the mix for the top-25 prospect, but the Terps will have their work cut out for them. Assistant Mike Jones has driven this pursuit with head coach Kevin Willard in frequent contact with the New York target, but similar to the pursuit of Mustaf, a source reiterated to IBG that the pursuit has still largely been through Fland himself. That’ll need to be something Willard and Jones will look to overcome at the end of the month. A position that Maryland was once close to filling, head coach Kevin Willard and the staff will look to turn the tide with the Terps getting the last visit before Fland is expected to decide.
After hosting Mustaf at the beginning of the month and 2025 four-star Efe Oliogu last weekend, it’ll be St. Rose (NJ) three-star Matthew Hodge up next as he makes his way to campus on Friday.
Among the three official visitors thus far, Maryland’s best chance may be with Hodge as the staff has been able to gradually and consistently build on a relationship that Mike Jones once enjoyed during his playing days. Hodge began his official visits with trips to Xavier (Aug. 27) and Penn State (Aug. 31) before officially visiting Marquette last weekend. After Maryland, Virginia will get the last visit beginning Sept. 21 before the high three-star target bunkers down into decision mode.
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