Profiles In Terpage – A Countdown To The Football Season: Titus Till
By petevolk
A recurring series where we will profile every player and coach on Maryland’s roster, counting down to kick-off against Miami. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile one of the better recruits to come to Maryland in the past five years.
Titus Till, Freshman (RS), Safety
Stats:
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 195
Ratings: Four stars, #3 in state, #11 safety, #158 prospect nationally by Rivals; three stars, #90 safety by Scout; #36 safety by ESPN
High School Stats (senior year): 64 tackles (31 solo), four interceptions, two forced fumbles and one pass breakup
High School Stats (junior year): 65 tackles (30 solo), two for a loss, one interception, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery
High School: Dr. Henry A. Wise High School (Upper Marlboro, Md.)
How’d He Get To College Park?
Till was a big-time recruit out of Wise, as evident by those ridiculous Rivals rankings. Born in Anchorage, he spent a large chunk of his childhood in Italy, where his father was stationed. As a result, he grew up with soccer as his first love, and always envisioned himself playing it professionally. The Till family moved to Maryland before his eighth grade year, and he didn’t play safety full-time until 10th grade. In January of his junior year, he became the first commitment of Maryland’s 2010 recruiting class, and stayed strong with that commitment even after his recruitment heated up – schools like Penn State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech all came calling.
Till was a consensus All-State selection in 2009, earned PG County Gazette First-Team Honors, was second team All-Met and played in the 2010 USA vs. World game.
Nickname:
“Emperor Titus”. He was basically raised in Italy, and there was a Roman Emperor named Titus.
Career Highlight:
Entering the season as the number two free safety on the depth chart without ever playing a collegiate down.
Career Lowlight:
Redshirting his first year on campus.
Arbitrary Top Five List:
Reasons why Dr. Henry A. Wise was awesome:
1. Was a Tuskegee Airman fighter pilot in World War II
2. Survived his plane being shot down over Romania
3. Survived subsequent capture and prisoner-of-war status, receving the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the Certificate of Valor for Courage in combat, and the Tuskegee Airmen Pioneer Award for Distinguished Service and Historic Achievement.
4. Was the first African-American physician to be admitted to practice at PG County Hospital
5. Founded the Youth Motivational Program in Maryland
Dream season:
Till overtakes the starting free-safety job, earning ACC All-Freshman honors and showing the skills and talent that made him such a highly-regarded recruit.
Nightmare season:
Till stays second on the depth chart, and shows his lack of experience in limited playing time.
2011 prospectus:
Till has an immense amount of talent and hype for someone who hasn’t been playing serious football (American, that is) for a very long time. He was a great get by Friedgen, Brown, and the previous staff, and the guys with his kind of skill haven’t been consistently staying in-state as of late. He is currently the backup to Eric Franklin, and while Franklin is very talented it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Till take over his spot or at least split the starting role by the end of the season. Like Jeremiah Hendy, he has first team All-ACC talent, and it’s going to be very exciting to watch the both of them roaming the secondary in College Park over the next few years.
Up Next:
Our next player was a star running back in Montgomery County during his high school years.