Profiles In Terpage – A Countdown To The Football Season: Andre Monroe
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 another surprise starter on Maryland’s defensive line.
Andre Monroe, Freshman (RS), Defensive Tackle
Stats:
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 280
Ratings: Two stars, #56 defensive tackle by Rivals; three stars, #86 defensive tackle by Scout; three stars, #57 defensive tackle by ESPN
40-yard dash time: 4.85
High School Stats (senior season): 61 tackles, 18 for a loss
High School Stats (junior season): 67 tackles, 22 for a loss, 7 sacks
High School: St. John’s College High School (Upper Marlboro, Md.)
How’d He Get To College Park?
Monroe was one of the better defensive tackles in the WCAC (being twice named all-conference), and his coach Joe Patterson called him the best defensive tackle he’s ever coached. The Terps were the only BCS program to offer the defensive tackle, and he was courted by a host of MAC schools as well as Mike Locksley and New Mexico, and Monroe ended up choosing College Park because of its proximity to home and his connection with the players, namely Pete White, a teammate at St. John’s. When asked later about his recruitment, Monroe said he didn’t even have a runner-up – that’s how sure he was about Maryland.
The defensive tackle was named All-Met and All-City in addition to his All-Conference honors after his senior year, and he’s proven himself to be a steal for the Terps already. After redshirting his freshman year, he enters fall as one of two starters at the defensive tackle position, joining Clarence Murphy and David Mackall as starters on the d-line from his recruiting class.
More after the jump.
Nickname:
Andre “Dre” Monroe. It’s what he goes by, and when someone has a nickname already picked out, why argue?
Career Highlight:
Entering the fall as a starter, being offered a scholarship to Maryland
Career Lowlight:
Rivals giving him a two-star rating while everyone else gave him three-stars. C’mon guys, let’s work with a bandwagon mentality.
Arbitrary Top Five List:
Members of NWA:
1. Dr. Dre
2. Ice Cub
3. MC Ren
4. Eazy-E
5. DJ Yella
Dream season:
Monroe holds on to his starting job, being named to the all-ACC freshman team and recording at least 30 tackles with at least four for a loss.
Nightmare season:
Monroe loses the starting job to A.J. Francis and the primary backup job to Justin Anderson, seeing his playing time limited.
2011 prospectus:
After an extremely strong spring, Andre Monroe enters this fall as one of two starters at defensive tackle, joining returning All-ACC player Joe Vellano. Monroe being a starter is a surprise, to put it lightly. He takes over the job of A.J. Francis, who was a freshman All-American two years ago and only improved on that last year, but we’ve already covered that in Francis’ PIT. The fact is Monroe played well enough this spring to win the job over a former All-American and over another former starter on Maryland’s line (Monroe’s backup, Justin Anderson), which means the kid is pretty damn good.
Monroe’s strength comes in his agility and maneuverability on the line. He weighs in at 280 pounds, but moves extremely well for a guy that size and should pose a problem for some of the bigger offensive guards in the ACC. Behind Monroe on the depth chart are the aforementioned Anderson, Darius Kilgo, and walk-on Alex Walker. None of those (except maybe Anderson) are a threat to Monroe’s job, and the only guy who can really take the spot away from him would be Francis (who’s currently behind Vellano on the depth chart). We’ll see if he still has the slot when the Miami game rolls around, but it will be tough to hold of Francis.
Up Next:
Our next player was a special teams star last year who delivered a big hit against FIU.