Jalen Tabor Spurns Hometown Terps

Jul 2, 2013; Beaverton, OR, USA; Jalen Tabor (1) drops back in coverage during the Nike 7on7 pool play at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon on Tuesday July, 2, 2013. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

In recent years, the Maryland Terrapins have fell just short in the recruitments of several star prospects. In 2012, hoops coach Mark Turgeon and his staff nearly landed top five recruits Andrew and Aaron Harrison, who ultimately committed to Kentucky. On Thursday, Friendship Collegiate Academy cornerback joined the list as he spurned Maryland and Alabama for Arizona.

Tabor chose the Wildcats over Alabama, Florida, and the Terps. Maryland had been the favorite for a while, but everything seemed to change after Tabor took another visit to Tuscaloosa last month. It seemed as though if Tabor went against Maryland, that it would be for the Crimson Tide. However, leading up to the announcement, the talk was that Tabor was going to head west and that held true.

After missing out on Tabor, is Maryland in trouble?

That would be a simple no. While obviously it would’ve been nice to land a defensive back of his caliber. But Maryland has their top two cornerbacks returning in Jeremiah Johnson and Will Likely. Another wild card is freshman cornerback Jarrett Ross, who only registered seven tackles this season. Ross was a three-star commit out of Delaware and was the second best player in the state in his class. He is incredibly quick and played several position in high school. Playing wideout at times showed how good his hands are and that will be a strong asset going forward.

While Thursday was a tough pill to swallow, offensive tackle Damian Prince is still up for grabs and he will announce next month. Bright skies could be ahead Terp fans!