Terps Football And Basketball Recruiting Updates

Basketball

• 4-star Brewster Academy SG Donovan Mitchell released his top ten on Thursday and the Terps didn’t make the cut. Mitchell had arguably the best summer of any prospect on the AAU circuit and his recruitment blew up as a result. Indiana, Memphis, Louisville, USF, Villanova, Georgetown, Auburn and Wichita State all offered in the span of two weeks. He is now focusing on Providence, Creighton, Florida State, Indiana, Georgetown, Villanova, Louisville, Kansas, Boston College and UNC.
• 2015 Grandview Sr. combo guard Tyrone Taylor told me that Maryland and Minnesota were front and center to watch him this past weekend. Currently, Minnesota has offered and Maryland has not, but the Terps has been watching an awful lot of him recently. To me, it only seems a matter of time before the staff pulls the trigger. I profiled Taylor here.
• Maryland extended a couple of offers out recently. 2015 St Anthony’s forward Markis McDuffie picked up an offer from the Terps, just a day after Wichita State offered him. Last week, Maryland offered 2015 Brewster forward Alex Illikainen. Both prospects are on the fringe of the top-100 in the 2015 class on 247 Sports, but after watching them play, you can see they have the ability to make a contribution to Maryland’s roster.
• IMS has a paywalled article profiling a recruit that would accept the Terps offer and called Maryland his dream school. You can read the article here. If you don’t have a membership, I highly recommend getting one.
• 4-star Jordan Murphy has picked up a couple Crystal Ball predictions for Maryland, and the staff was there to watch him again last weekend. It seems the staff will take either Murphy or 4-star SF/PF Esa Ahmad, but both prospects seem to be high on Maryland even though they’re keeping their recruitment private.
• Josh Stirn of IMS tweeted that Malik Beasley will cut his list soon. Maryland has still been recruiting the shooting guard from Georgia hard, but there is already so much competition with him that I feel Maryland is fighting an uphill battle with him. Right now, Georgia holds 82% of the Crystal Ball predictions and UCLA and UConn just offered the top-4o player in the 2015 class. There’s a chance, but it remains to be seen just how good of a chance Maryland really does have.

Football

• 4-star Friendship Collegiate Academy OG Quarvez Boulware released his top five this past weekend. Alabama, Florida, Wake Forest, UNC and Maryland all made the cut for the undersized but talented guard. A year ago, he seemed like an Alabama lean to me when Jalen Tabor seemed bound for Tuscaloosa. Since then, Wake Forest and UNC have made big impacts on him. UNC is recruiting him at both defensive tackle and offensive guard, the only school to do so, and that appeals to Boulware. Nonetheless, he continues to talk up Maryland. I think Maryland is near the top of that top five, but the Crystal Ball currently has Wake Forest as the only “warmer” team for him.
• 5-star East Lake WR George Campbell released his top ten over the weekend: LSU, Alabama, Florida, FSU, Clemson, UCLA, Ole Miss, Auburn and Maryland. Maryland is one of four non-SEC schools in that top 10, but Campbell visited for the Big Show and that made a big impression on him. Nonetheless, Maryland is certainly on the outside looking in right now.
• 4-star Gilman ATH Kai Locksley will be making his silent commitment within the next few days, and Texas and FSU have reportedly gained the lead in his recruitment. However, things will take an interesting turn as Deondre Francois will likely make his commitment to FSU, thus filling up the quarterback position for FSU. Texas has also not confirmed whether Locksley will play quarterback or receiver for the Longhorns, and Locksley has made it clear he wants to be a quarterback. Update: Chose FSU.
• 3-star DE Austrian Robinson visited Maryland back on June 7th, and he told me the visit went so well that he has named the Terps the current favorite. Many schools, however, are still gunning for the 6’6″ defensive end from Trinity-Pawling School. Robinson named Boston College, Pitt, Temple, UCF, Miami and Ole Miss as schools still recruiting him hard. Robinson will also make a trio of visits to Pittsburgh, Temple and Syracuse in August. Although Robinson named Maryland the leader, he also said that he sees both Rutgers and Boston College as viable options as he can play early for both schools.
• Target Mufu Taiwo had visited Maryland a few times over the last couple weeks, but is officially committed to Old Dominion.