clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Profiles in Terpage: Ty Tucker, Mike Minter, Azubuike Ukandu and Ruben Franco

We continue our series with a group of walk-on defensive linemen.

Joe Robbins

Ty Tucker, Sophomore, Defensive End, #78
Mike Minter, Freshman (RS), Defensive Tackle, #63
Azubuike Ukandu, Sophomore, Defensive End, #95
Ruben Franco, Sophomore (RS), Defensive End, #49

Stats:

Height: 6'2", 6'3", 6'0", 6'4"

Weight: 265, 291, 300, 245

Twitter: @tyveculas@mminter20@double_cincos

Collegiate Stats: N/A

High School Stats (Senior Year): Tucker had 68 tackles (15 for a loss) and seven sacks, Minter had 70 tackles, seven sacks and six forced fumbles, Ukandu had 80 tackles with nine sacks and two forced fumbles

247sports composite Ratings: N/A

Who Maryland beat: N/A

High School: Walkersville, Severna Park, Towson, Montgomery

Hometown: Walkersville, Md., Severna Park, Md., Towson, Md., Montgomery, Texas

High School Highlights:

How'd He Get to College Park?

Tucker was offered by a host of FCS schools, including Georgetown and Lehigh, and even one FBS school (Rice) but chose to come to Maryland as a preferred walk-on. He was a first team all-state defensive tackle his senior year and was an All-American wrestler. After redshirting and playing on the scout team in his first season, he missed the entirety of last season with an injury.

Minter was a two-way lineman at Severna Park who played in the Crab Bowl following his senior year. He earned first-team all-county and second-team all-state honors, winning the Al Larramore Award as the best lineman in Anne Arundel County. He chose Maryland over opportunities with Towson, Coastal Carolina and Harvard, and missed last season due to injury.

Profiling the entire team

Ukandu is a walk-on from Towson High School who redshirted his first season on campus. An article from 2011 cites some pretty impressive weightlifting numbers: 360 on the bench, 470 on the squat and a 525-pound deadlift. Ukandu earned first-team all-diviion honors and honorable mention all-state honors, and was named to the Honor Roll each semester in high school.  He was offered by Bryant and Old Dominion and received interest from Stanford and Boston College. Last season, he earned scout team defensive player of the week honors prior to the contest against North Carolina State.

Nickname:

"TT," "M&M," "Zuby" and "Rube"

Career Highlight:

Making Maryland's roster for most -- for Ukandu, earning scout team defensive player of the week honors.

Dream Season:

Seeing playing time.

2014 Prospectus:

If there's any unit in which a walk-on could make an impact at Maryland, it's the defensive line. That's not to say the Terps have a depth problem there -- there are plenty of scholarship players -- but nose tackle is looking a little then and Maryland could use some extra space-eaters there. Ukandu was listed third on the depth chart at defensive end this spring (thanks in part to the injured Kingsley Opara), with Tucker and Franco at the bottom of their respective defensive end positions and Minter not listed. Tucker, Minter and Ukandu are the most likely to see playing time, but we'll see how the year plays out.

Up Next:

Our next player's last name is also the name of a village in northern Poland that used to be a part of Germany.

Standings:

timmyw3 takes a share of the lead back.

RedTurtle: 7

timmyw3: 7

Daniel Hamilton: 5

jnforsyth34: 4

Ezra2141: 2

aubartolomei: 1

ClickClack62: 1

Terps_roc: 1

testudbro: 1

umcp96: 1

Maryland1206: 1

Scaletta: 1

KHemer: 1

goingtobentleys: 1

MEDTerp: 1

HarfordTerp37: 1

juanblaze: 1