With Competition On Hold, Terps Recruiting Continues

While collegiate sports as a whole remain on hold as the country navigates its way through a pandemic, the never-ending cycle of recruiting continues.

Maryland has remained busy in this area for both its football and basketball programs. Despite not being able to conduct typical recruiting visits — both on and off campus — and the NCAA’s recruiting dead period for football continuing to be extended, the Terps have recently added some talent to the gridiron and hardwood.

Let’s take a closer look at who some of the latest additions are, as well as some remaining recruiting targets.

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Basketball

Maryland fans had to wait a little longer than expected, but Mark Turgeon and his staff eventually landed their man in Milwaukee (Wis.) Nicolet three-star forward James Graham III.

Graham initially planned to make his announcement Aug. 17, and all signs pointed to Maryland. But a late push from one of his other finalists — Auburn — gave his pause and the decision was pushed back to Aug. 19. But the extra time to deliberate didn’t change anything. Graham announced last Wednesday that he is the newest addition to the Terps’ 2021 class, joining four-stars Julian Reese and Ike Cornish.

Besides Maryland and Auburn, the 6-foot-8, 210-pounder was also considering Memphis and Wisconsin. The Terps were the first Power Five school to offer and did so during the pandemic, which really stood out to the Wisconsin native.

Maryland’s successful pursuit of Graham also had a lot to do with the recruiting prowess of Terps assistant Bino Ranson and the closing power of Turgeon. Graham developed a strong relationship with Ranson in a short time, but he also began talking to Turgeon regularly leading up to his commitment.

With Darryl Morsell graduating after next season and Aaron Wiggins possibly heading to the NBA at the same time, Graham is a much-needed piece for the Terps. Although he is slightly bigger than both Wiggins and Morsell, Graham possesses a similar skill set from the wing and is perhaps a more natural scorer than either of his predecessors.

Graham has also begun developing chemistry with his classmates. Through FaceTime and various forms of social media, he has kept in contact with both Reese and Cornish and is looking forward to teaming up with them at the next level.

A couple more interesting notes about Graham:

• While recently taking a self-guided tour around College Park with his family, Graham was impressed with the beauty of Maryland’s campus as well as its proximity to both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. He mentioned how he is someone who likes to give back to inner cities and he was happy to see that Maryland provided him a chance to do so in two major metropolitan areas.
• Speaking of a natural attraction to Baltimore, Graham also told me that he gets told a lot that his game is a bit like Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony’s. This is by design, as Graham said he grew up a Melo fan and tried to emulate his game. Graham was quick to add that he thinks he’s more efficient and prioritizes winning more than Anthony though (some candid commentary there).

Maryland’s 2021 recruiting class is shaping up quite nicely and is currently ranked 13th nationally by Rivals. And the Terps might not be done yet.

The biggest remaining target on the board is New Zealand guard Taine Murray. A 6-foot-5, 190-pounder, Murray has narrowed down his list of schools to Maryland, Stanford, and Virginia. Murray’s current coach in New Zealand, Kevin Braswell, starred at Georgetown from 1998-2002 and is a Baltimore native, which shouldn help the Terps’ chances especially considering his tight-knit relationships with Ranson and former Maryland assistant Juan Dixon.

But Terps fans might have to wait a little for this one. All three of Murray’s finalists are expected to make a strong push and a decision isn’t expected until mid-year. There’s a chance Murray could arrive stateside as soon as December and be ruled eligible for the upcoming season but, as of now, he’s being viewed as a 2021 recruit.

Football

As the 2021 class begins to reach its limits, Mike Locksley and his staff have remained busy filling the final spots.

The Terps have landed four football recruits in the last month: three-stars Corey Coley and Andrew Booker as well as two-stars Kyle Long and Roman Hemby.

Coley is a defensive back out of Jacksonville, Florida, who has experience playing both cornerback and safety. He was recruited by the Terps to play cornerback and has good size for the position at 6-foot, 165-pounds. Defensive coordinator Jon Hoke and special teams coordinator George Helow both took the lead here.

Booker is the brother of current Terps’ defensive lineman Anthony Booker Jr., who redshirted as a freshman last season. Like his older brother, Andrew is big, athletic, and plays on the defensive line. The Ohio native adds to a slew of talented defensive linemen in Maryland’s 2021 class.

Long is just that — long. At 6-foot-6, 304 pounds, the Missouri native has the type of frame Maryland is looking for at offensive tackle. His skillset is a bit raw at the moment, but he is athletic and if he continues to develop he could be a nice steal for the Terps. Long’s future positon coach, John Reagan, helped seal the deal here.

Maryland’s most recent addition is local athlete Roman Hemby, who flew under the radar for most of his recruitment but ended up with a very nice offer list. The Terps had long been considered the favorite for the Bel Air (Md.) John Carroll product, but he made it official Aug. 16 with an announcement on Instagram Live.

Hemby’s offer sheet is more indicative of his talent than his rating as a recruit, which is expected to go up when final rankings are released. Hemby chose Maryland over Boston College, Duke, Michigan State, NC State, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest, West Virginia and more. His older brother, Ky’el, also plays at an all-conference level as a defensive back at Southern Mississippi.