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Damonte Dodd officially signed on
Not like there was ever any doubt on it, but hey, good news. There's something a bit more interesting, though:
...he'll be redshirted.
Only makes sense. His minutes behind Padge, Len, Pankey, Cleare, and Mitchell weren't likely to be substantial enough to make it worth it for either party, especially not with his game being more or less where it is. He has a boatload of potential, but needs time to grow into it. A year of practice and coaching will do a world of good. Oh, and Maryland awkwardly now has two big men who will practice but not play in Dodd and Smotrycz. That's a tease.
Maryland (ie, Locksley) picks up JuCo commit Deon Long
h/t to oriolekid in the FanPosts. No surprise here; Long's been adamant about his desire to follow Locks since Day One. A former West Virginia commit and four-star wide receiver from Dunbar, Long was one of the area's more coveted 2009 recruits. He ended up transferring to UNM, where he did pretty well as a freshman, but then transferred again after Locks got the boot. He landed at an Iowa community college, and now that the formalities are taken care of he's following Locksley to College Park.
He played last year so he certainly won't be able to play this year; if my understanding is correct, he should be playing at the JuCo this year and then arriving on campus (or just skipping the JuCo altogether and practicing with the team) before becoming eligible the next season, at which point he'll be a junior and have two years of eligibility left.
Oh, and: the wide receivers at that point would include Long, Stefon Diggs, Nigel King (who almost committed to LSU, remember), and Marcus Leak. Plus Wes Brown and Albert Reid in the backfield. Yeah. That's some talent. It should also make it easy on a certain quarterback ...
PressBox: Brown Ready To Be Terps' Starting QB
And there's the segue, folks. (CJB would be a senior when Long is eligible, if'n you're wondering.)
Good news here: C.J. was voted a team captain for next year. Nice to see the team coalescing behind him, and it should make it extremely difficult for him to be unseated by a freshman upstart, at least before seeing how he does in games. Some seemed to dismiss C.J. as a "leader" type when the position battle was going on last year, presumably because DOB was the starter before that and they assumed that meant he had the locker room. Never really bought that, and it's good to get confirmation on it. Other than that, Randy is predictably boilerplate, but hey, it's spring. If he says C.J. got better with reps, I'm a willing partner.
Oh, and requisite mention of the CJB bandwagon. Anyone else climbing aboard? Seriously, it's really fun on this thing.
Meet the Recruit: Terps power forward commitment Charles Mitchell
Matt Bracken with a predictably fun-to-read profile of the Maryland big man commit. My takeaway: we're officially allowed to call him "Chuck," which I will certainly be doing quite a bit. Also, if anyone's going to become a fan favorite in this bunch due to their personality, it's probably him.
With focus on hoops, Harrison twins find themselves among nation's best - CBSSports
I know there was some wondering in yesterday's FanShot about just how certain the Brothers Harrison are in that "going to the same school" thing. This piece should put that to bed (read and you'll see that it's painfully obvious), but I'm actually coming away less convinced that, while they surely will go to the same school, they want the same school. I've wondered about that for a long time, since they actually seem to be a bit different in personality. Between Andrew effectively ending their participation in football and the description of their differences in disposition, well, it's not impossible. Pretty much irrelevant for the likes of you and I, sure, but let's hope whoever likes Maryland is the decision-maker of the two.
Anyway, for the "real news" folks: Papa Harrison is saying now they won't "drag out" the recruiting process, even though just a few days ago they were open to more schools. Oh recruiting, you fickle temptress.
Rivals updates team recruiting rankings, Maryland at #14
A day or two old by now, but yet-to-be-linked so here it is. Third in the ACC behind State and UNC. Just nipping GT and Virginia. Sounds about right to me.