At the time, Adam McLean’s decision to commit to Penn State was easy. It was only a spring game when he was in State College, Pa., and still 72,000 Nittany Lion faithful filled Beaver Stadium.
That day, April 12, the defensive tackle from Quince Orchard High School decided he would play for PSU. He was a junior at the time and after a full summer and another season playing for Quince Orchard, he realized there was more to the decision than the transfixing pageantry of Happy Valley.
"It’s different when you play for your hometown team now that I realize," McLean said. "It runs a little more deep in your blood. I finally understand that."
Seven months and six days after originally committing to Penn State, McLean backed out. Then, on Thursday, McLean officially announced he would stay home and play for Maryland. It was a major coup for head coach Randy Edsall and the Terrapins — a four-star recruit and one of the premier players in Marylandspurning a school with a reputation for poaching players from the state, instead choosing his hometown team.
"It just wasn’t for him," QO defensive line coach Michael Sarni said of McLean’s original commitment. "He still had things in the back of his mind that weren’t answered, one being playing in front of his home state. Maryland was always something that intrigued him."
The story for the Terrapins is familiar: In 2012, five-star wide receiver Stefon Diggs committed to Maryland and was supposed to trigger a "stay-at-home" movement that would keep the local talent playing for the hometown team.
Two years later, McLean hopes he can make the movement finally come together. Three days before McLean announced his decision, 2016 Good Counsel linebacker KeAndre Jones verbally committed to Maryland shortly after McLean revealed to him that he would be a Terp, too.
McLean lives within walking distance of Jones and said he’s "like my brother," and now he’s setting his sights on recruiting some of the other top players in the class, including five-star Florida defensive tackle Byron Cowart.
"The buzz around here locally," Edsall said during a conference call over the weekend, "it’s as high as it’s every been since I’ve been here."
But even if McLean can’t lure in the rest of area’s highly touted prospects, he alone can be a difference-maker for the Terrapins defense. The defensive tackle tore his anterior cruciate ligament in October and will have surgery on Jan. 23, which will have him ready for the start of the 2015 season. He has the skillset to immediately contribute as a pass rusher while he develops into a more complete player either on the end or—with his 6-foot-2, 290-pound frame—at the nose.
He only recorded 13 tackles and a half sack during his six-game senior season, according to MaxPreps, but he was the focus of opponents’ blocking after racking up 47 tackles and seven sacks in 2013.
"He really does well with frustration. He wants to prove everybody wrong," Sarni said. "Adam would come over to the sideline during the game and he’s like, ‘I can’t get to the quarterback,’ and I’d say, ‘Adam, it’s because you’re being triple teamed. Other people are able to make the tackle.’"
There are, however, rumors about academics being the reason he backed out of his PSU commitment. Unsurprisingly, he vehemently denies those and his high school head coach John Kelly told The Baltimore Sun he expects McLean to qualify.
"If there was any truth to the academic speculators, would I have committed to Maryland, which is a more prestigious academic school?" McLean said. "I don’t understand that. My academics are where they need to be and that’s all that matters."
He’s close with several of the top local prospects for 2016, including Jones, Bullis quarterback Dwayne Haskins, Avalon wide receiver Trevon Diggs and Friendship interior lineman Quarvez Boulware. A future as college teammates, McLean hopes, starts with this week.
"When you’re the No. 1 guy in Maryland you can pretty much change the recruiting process for the next two years," McLean said. "Me committing there can change the recruiting process for the next few years. I had to grow up and see it was best for me."
On to the round-up:
- Jones made a major jump in this updated Rivals.com rankings for the Class of 2016. The linebacker is up to 32nd nationally and second in the state behind defensive end Reshaun Smith, who is 10th overall.
- The Terps' momentum seems to be real. Demetric Warren, 247sports' top picker for the crystal ball, is now projecting Haskins, five-star defensive Shane Simmons, four-star tackle JP Uruquidez, four-star North Carolina running back Robert Washington to join Maryland.
- The Terrapins were one of five teams to visit three-star Virginia athlete J.J. Givens this week. Wake, Tennessee, Michigan State and N.C. State were the others.
- Notre Dame joined the crowded list of schools, including Maryland, which has offered 2016 four-star defensive end Terrell Hall a scholarship earlier this week, 247sports reports. Hall, who plays for St. John’s in Washington, D.C., also has offers from Ohio State, PSU, Clemson, Rutgers and UCLA.
- Maryland extended a scholarship offer to Pittsburgh wide receiver and safety John Petrishen over the weekend, Rivals reports. The three-star 2015 prospect also has interest from Penn State, Northwestern, Pitt and Virginia.
- The Terrapins also hosted official visits for JUCO defensive end Drew Bailey, three-star defensive end Austrian Robinson and three-star wide receiver Jahrvis Davenport this weekend.