Maryland Football: How close are the Terps to competing?

The Maryland football program has made significant strides since D.J. Durkin took over in late 2015.

As the Big Ten descended upon Chicago for their annual Media Days, the question was posed to Durkin concerning how close the Terrapins truly are to competing with the heavyweights of the conference.

“Our conference and division is the most competitive there is out there,” Durkin said. “We’re getting closer and closer every day.”

In 2017, Maryland is going to find out just how good this current group is. The Terps will open the season on the road against Texas in the coaching debut of Tom Herman.

While the Longhorns aren’t the powerhouse that they were during the Mack Brown days, there’s still a ton of talent on their roster.

Couple that with Maryland’s gauntlet of Big Ten schedule that features Minnesota, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin over the first four weeks of conference play. In the final three weeks, Michigan and Penn State loom on the schedule.

Durkin made a valid point in that the Terps are recruiting extremely well. There wasn’t a time during the Randy Edsall era where you could consistently say that.

Edsall brought in a few four-star recruits, but the classes were barely in the top 40.

On the other hand, Durkin brought in the No. 18 class in 2017, according to 247Sports. Up to this point in 2018, Maryland has the No. 19 class in the country and the third-best class in the Big Ten behind just Ohio State and Penn State.

The Terps had eight four-star recruits in the 2017 class and three already in the fold for 2018. All but one of those (Markquese Bell) came from Maryland, Virginia, or Washington D.C.

“We’re recruiting at a level that will put us in a position that we want to be in,” Durkin added. “We’re here to win championships and we’re here to compete to win it.”

One of the biggest things that’s held Maryland back in recent years has been the quarterback position.

Guys like Perry Hills and Caleb Rowe were serviceable collegiate signal callers, but they weren’t elite by any stretch. They’re not the type that’s going to hang with the Big Ten’s blue blood programs and pull off an upset.

Training camp is set to get underway in a month and it looks to be a healthy competition in College Park. North Carolina transfer Caleb Henderson and sophomore Tyrrell Pigrome will battle for the starting job with true freshman Kasim Hill also being in the mix.

In time, Hill appears that he could be the program-changing quarterback that the Terps need. The program nearly had one two years ago in Dwayne Haskins, but the team’s struggles in 2015 caused Haskins to flip his commitment to Ohio State.

If a guy like Hill pans out, Maryland could finally have a quarterback that can lead the charge against Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

If Durkin can continue to replenish the program the way he has so far, the sky is the limit. If Maryland consistently is getting several four and five-star players in every class, they’re going to be able to compete with Ohio State and Michigan.

Durkin has had two recruiting classes to implement the type of players that he wants on his team. The 2017 will give everyone their first glimpse of how good this group can be.

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If Maryland comes out and knocks off Texas, that would certainly make a huge statement that says that the Terps have arrived and can hang with anybody. Time will tell, but Durkin has the program trending upward in a way that hasn’t been seen in quite some time.