More on Maryland Football's Newest Commit, Max Garcia

If you missed the news in all the excitement that was a foot (or more) of snow, Maryland gained another commitment yesterday, this time from Georgia offensive tackle Max Garcia.

As a player, Garcia is one of the newer popular style of linemen: he's athletic and quick. Garcia pairs his agility and quickness with good size (or at least good length) and balance. He definitely has the tools to be great one day. He's a bit on the inconsistent side and his technique could use work, too. ESPN, for one, said that he'd definitely need a redshirt year to work on technique, but could a good starter from then on.

Remember, it's always easier to work on technique when you have the physical tools than it is the other way around.

On the bad side for that, I don't think anyone's ever really been impressed with Tom Brattan's coaching at OL. He's a great recruiter, but the OL has been weak for several years, and I don't think Brattan gets off entirely free with that. Still, we'll see what happens - Garcia definitely has the tools to be successful.

This could have another meaning, though, as Garcia plays the same position as another Maryland target, Arie Kouandjio. Kouandjio was always a ridiculous longshot, but this likely confirms what we already suspected: Maryland won't be landing him. That's not to say Garcia was a backup plan or that he'll drive away Kouandjio, but the coaching staff has a feel for these kinds of things. Taking on a bunch of lineman isn't as bad as taking too few, but it's still not good. I don't know how hard they would've gone after Garcia if they thought they had a real shot at Kouandjio. I'm also not sure how hard they'll recruit Kouandjio with a solid OL class already lined up.

This also creates a bit of a Norcross pipeline, as Maryland poached D.J. Adams last year and Garcia this year. The well-respected football school puts out great talent every year, and Maryland has a couple of advantages there: they've been a visible presence since 2011 recruits' sophomore year, have had ample time to evaluate and contact them, and they have players that know the recruits that can recruit them, in addition to the coaches. All are very good. things.

Next year, Norcross has a couple of pretty good prospects for next year, athlete Demetrius Alston and LB/RB Seth Hinsley. Hinsley might be the real star of the team, but I wouldn't sleep on Alston, either, who lines up at DE and TE. I'd expect Maryland to be in the mix for both.

Actually, Maryland's starting to recruit Georgia pretty hard. While they've always been able to pull a kid or two from Georgia every year, they've landed four Peach Staters the past two years, three of which came from two of the premier programs in the state.

They'll need the services of Devin Burns, another Georgian Terp commit who goes to Carver, next year, because that team is loaded. There's two possible five stars there in RB Isaiah Crowell and DT Gabe Wright. The same pluses that exist at Norcross exist there: visible presence, plenty of time, and an able recruiter. Maryland could set up a little second home in Georgia in the coming years, and I definitely wouldn't mind.