Grommer Excited to Be A Terp

As far as football prospects go, Stephen Grommer has all the non-football elements down. He was named to the all-area and all-region Academic teams last year and was recruited by Harvard. He benches 320 pounds, squats 450 pounds, and cleans 250 pounds. He does shot put and discus for his high school’s track and field team, and was named all-region the past two years in discus. He hasn’t missed a workout or practice since eighth grade.

Luckily for Maryland, he’s pretty good at football as well.

The 6-foot-4.5-inch, 285 pound offensive lineman from Spartanburg, Sc. recently committed as a member of Maryland’s 2011 recruiting class, and says he is “so happy about the decision.”

We did a film study on him earlier, and got the opportunity to talk to him on the phone two days ago. Grommer spoke very highly of College Park, and said he thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the campus during the Morgan State game. “It was just the entire atmosphere,” he said. “Once I left from visiting that afternoon that I knew that I wanted to go there. It was just an overwhelming feeling. The game was loud, aggressive, and fun; how college games are supposed to be. Then I got to view all the facilities of the campus, and to me, everything is just beautiful and very new. It’s just great.”

The visit to Morgan State was an unofficial one, so Grommer still has his official remaining (that will be on the school’s dime). He said he plans on taking that one in December, during basketball season.

Grommer is only a two-star prospect on ESPN and doesn’t have a rating on Rivals, but judging by his offer sheet (East Carolina, Rutgers, and North Carolina State, among others), he’s a sought after prospect. Judging by his highlight tape (again, here), he also looks like a very solid player who should be a starter on Maryland’s offensive line in a few years.

While he is currently playing right tackle at Spartanburg High, he projects as a guard on the collegiate level. “I’m fine with either [position],” he said. “It doesn’t really matter to me.

“As a lineman, I’m just always trying to hit somebody. I’m always trying to get to somebody and knock them down and throw them around and just keep going.”

Grommer said he is equally good at pass and run blocking, but “I prefer run blocking because it’s more fun.”

When talking about the West Virginia game, he used the first person plural, which is always nice to hear as a Terps’ fan. “I was watching the West Virginia game,” he said. “And we were down by a couple of touchdowns and we kept fighting and never really gave up. We never stopped fighting and we were always there as a team, and I really like that.”

He plans on majoring in business management, adding “that’s one of the things I really like about Maryland, the business school.”

When asked what he likes to do in his free time, Grommer laughed and said “eat and sleep. That’s about it.”

Grommer is the 15th commitment for Maryland’s 2011 class, and is the fifth offensive lineman. It actually works out perfectly to make up an offensive line – Ryan Doyle and Larry Mazyck at tackle, Grommer and Andrew Zeller at guard, and Evan Mulrooney at center. Chances that’s their starting line in 2014? Not likely, but it would be nice to have that kind of class, no?

Once again, this looks like a very solid pickup for coach Friedgen and the Terps. We look forward to seeing Grommer arrive on campus next year, and arrive on the playing field soon after.