clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

2014 College Football recruiting rankings: How much could Maryland rise with the addition of Damian Prince?

The Terps are currently around the middle of the Big Ten pack, but could rise significantly.

By Pete Volk
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Signing Day is just around the corner, so we figured it was high time to check in on how Maryland's recruiting class stacks up before the big day (and before Damian Prince's announcement). All rankings and ratings come from the 247sports composite, which combines the ratings from Rivals, Scout, 247sports and ESPN.

Maryland's class currently ranks 50th in the country, good for 10th in the Big Ten. That puts them below Northwestern, Indiana and the big boys, but above Iowa, Rutgers and Illinois, among others.

Derwin Gray and Larry Mazyck have already signed, but the other 14 members of the class are currently just verbal commitments. Here's how they're ranked:

  1. Jesse Aniebonam, four stars, Good Counsel (Olney, MD.), 9404 rating, 2nd-best in Maryland, 8th-best strong-side defensive end. Highlights here.
  2. Derwin Gray, four stars, Fork Union (Fork Union, Va.), .9250 rating, 2nd-best prep player, best prep offensive tackle. Highlights here.
  3. Juwann Winfree, four stars, Dwight Morrow (Englewood, N.j.):, .9010 rating, 9th-best in New Jersey, 21st-best wide receiver. Highlights here.
  4. Will Ulmer, three stars, St. John's College (Washington, D.C.), .8747 rating, 3rd-best in D.C., 11th-best dual-threat quarterback. Highlights here.
  5. Larry Mazyck, three stars, Iowa Western C.C. (Council Bluffs, Ia.), .8730 rating, 40th-best JuCo player, ninth-best JuCo offensive tackle. Highlights here.
  6. Josh Woods, three stars, Mcdonogh (Owings Mills, Md.), .8495 rating, 28th-best in Maryland, 68th-best safety. Highlights here.
  7. Tyler Burke, three stars, Coatesville Area (Coatesville, Pa.), .8363 rating, 33rd-best in Pennsylvania, 74th-best weakside defensive defensive end. Highlights here.
  8. Daniel Ezeagwu, three stars, Colonial Forge (Stafford, Va.), .8320 rating, 31st-best in Virginia, 85th-best cornerback. Highlights here.
  9. Brendan Moore, three stars, Round Rock Westwood (Austin, Texas), .8210 rating, 183rd-best in Texas, 118th-best offensive tackle. Highlights here.
  10. Nnamdi Egbuaba, three stars, St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.), .8187 rating, 35th-best in Maryland, 96th-best outside linebacker. Highlights here.
  11. Sean Christie, three stars, Patchogue-Medford (Medford, N.Y.), .8100 rating, 14th-best in New York, 138th-best offensive tackle. Highlights here, film review here.
  12. Andrew Gray, three stars, Chardon (Chardon, Ohio), .8050 rating, 97th-best in Ohio, 71st-best tight end. Highlights here.
  13. Jordan Noil, three stars, Norcross (Norcross, Ga.), .7994 rating, 170th-best in Georgia, 155th-best safety. Highlights here.
  14. David Shaw, three stars, Spring Grove Area (Spring Grove, Pa.), .7984 rating, 59th-best in Pennsylvania, 109th-best defensive tackle. Highlights here.
  15. Brett Kulka, two stars, General McLane (Edinboro, Pa.), .7830 rating, 61st-best in Pennsylvania, 108th-best weakside defensive end. Highlights here.
  16. Nate Adams, two stars, Greenway (Phoenix, Az.), .7583 rating, 62nd-best in Arizona, fifth-best long snapper. Highlights here, film review here.

Randy Edsall really only has one target left in the class -- Prince, who is set to announce on Signing Day, with Maryland and Florida seemingly ahead of South Carolina (as well as "the field). That would round out the class at 17, which was pretty much the target area for this haul in the first place. But how would that change things?

The Terps' current score for the class, with 16 commits, is 169.49. Using the nifty class calculator, we can simply plug Prince in there and see that it raises Maryland's score all the way up to 198.07. That would lift them up above Louisville, Northwestern, West Virginia, Nebraska, Missouri and Mississippi State, among others, bringing them to 35th in the country and sixth in the Big Ten (right behind Michigan State).

There are a few players with an outside shot of being added on Signing Day -- Western Carolina offensive tackle commit Andrew Miles, Lignanore running back Phillip Butler and Dunbar offensive tackle Darius Brown. Brown does not have a profile on any of the recruiting services, but adding Miles (who is unranked) and Butler alongside Prince brings them up to 205.03, good for 32nd in the nation and fifth in the conference.

We all knew beforehand that the Prince decision is huge, and the numbers back it up. Especially with the recent commitments of Egbuaba and Ezeagwu, Maryland has put together a decent class (their recruits average a rating of .8392, slightly below last year's .8412). With Prince, the Terps really do have a very nice haul heading into the Big Ten, with an emphasis on the positions of immediate and future need.

More from Testudo Times

Next Up In Maryland Football