Good timing with that initial post, no? Today's the first day of the open recruiting period, and Mike Locksley already has brought two guys into the program.
First was Zach Dancel, who tweeted his transfer earlier today. Dancel is a former 2011 prospect who went to Good Counsel and committed to New Mexico, largely thanks to the Locksley connection. He played in nine games in his true freshman season at UNM as a safety, and made 32 tackles, which is a pretty good mark all things considered. He'll have to sit out a year per N.C.A.A. transfer rules, but after that he should be a fairly substantial contributor at safety for his remaining three seasons in the program.
He also brings a few other nice things with him: he's the son of Bernie Dancel, who "bankrolled" the Good Counsel football team. That's not a bad friend to have. He's also very close with Wes Brown, who actually lives with the Dancel family. Brown is a four-star running back and one of the big local elites that Maryland is going after hard in the waning days of the recruiting cycle, and he'll announce his college decision during tomorrow night's Under Armour All-American Game.
Dancel announcing to Maryland might actually make the Terrapins the front-runners for Brown's services. The two are very close - I got an email earlier today from someone close to the family who said that "people underestimate just how close Zach and Wes are" - and Brown is also familiar and friendly with Locksley. Tomorrow's announcement just got a bit more interesting, and if Brown ends up in College Park it'll help Maryland with Eddie Goldman and Stefon Diggs.
Just hours later, news hit that Maryland also picked up a commitment from former Suitland wide receiver Levern Jacobs. Jacobs was also originally a 2011 recruit and committed to Marshall, but ended up prepping at Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. He's #20 on Rivals' top 30 prep recruits, ahead of guys headed to Iowa, Virginia, and Pitt.
Jacobs is a three-star on Rivals, and in 2011 was a three-star on ESPN (78, which would've tied him for the fifth-most highly-regarded recruit for Maryland in that class). He also has a brother in the 2013 recruiting class, also a Suitland wide receiver Taivon Jacobs; there were some rumors that Jacobs had committed to Maryland a few months ago, though that turned out to be incorrect. The younger Jacobs has offers from both the Terps and UNC and is a straight-up burner who can supposedly run sub-4.4s already. This also looks a bit like a potential package deal.
Things are looking up right now for Maryland football. Yeah, there really wasn't much farther down they could go, but it's a nice feeling regardless.