Exactly a month ago, Georgia offensive tackle Jajuan Dulaney kicked off an epic month of football recruiting for the Maryland Terrapins, in which Randy Edsall's staff picked up 10 commitments, the vast majority of them local. Now, a month later, things are coming full circle, with another Peach State product bookending the crazy past four weeks: earlier today, linebacker Jalen Brooks pulled the trigger for the Terrapins, committing after his visit last week.
Brooks is an under-the-radar prospect, not rated on any of the four major recruiting services. He lists offers from Air Force and Navy, along with a host of FCS schools (including Yale, so it looks like he's a smart one). His listed size varies but tops out around 215, which isn't great size for a linebacker in Maryland's scheme and could actually point to him moving back to safety, especially with the recent depth the Terrapins have built up in the linebacker corps. (Although they're not exactly lacking for safety depth, either.) At some point they've got to stop adding linebackers. (Right?)
With the commitment of Brooks and recent addition of Aussie specialist Brad Craddock, that's two fewer scholarships for Maryland to work with, and they didn't exactly have a ton of space to begin with. It'll be interesting to see how much, if at all, the staff slows down with adding players. If there's another offseason exodus they'll need the depth, but then again if there's another offseason exodus Edsall will be out of a job. Regardless, the focus should at least be switching to other positions now, like receiver and the lines.
Anyway: highlights of Brooks are below. He's playing out the outside of a 3-4, and he looks like a much better fit for the strongside of that position than the weakside. You don't see much of him in highlights, so if he's a safety he'll probably have to be a rover-type instead of a traditional one.