Maryland football makes top 7 for 4-star DE Joshua Paschal

A day after returning from a weekend at The Opening, college football’s top recruiting showcase, four-star Good Counsel (Md.) defensive end Joshua Paschal released his top-seven list of schools on Tuesday. As expected, Maryland’s involved.

That’s Maryland against six drastically more successful programs, at least in recent times: Oklahoma, Clemson, Notre Dame, Tennessee, USC and North Carolina, which has recently made a jump toward the upper echelons of the sport.

Maryland already has a verbal commitment from Good Counsel linebacker Ayinde Eley, who shares a front seven there with Paschal. I believe Terrapins are in good shape here, but there’s a long way to go and a lot of good teams to fend off to get into the clear.

In other news

Paschal isn’t the only blue-chip Maryland DE the Terps are after. Here’s Chase Young.

The best Maryland season preview you’ll find anywhere, by Bill Connelly.

ESPN did Maryland’s all-century football team. What up, Scott McBrien.

Anthony McFarland, again:

Jermaine Carter Jr. is on the Butkus Award Watch List. Maryland’s release:

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Maryland junior linebacker Jermaine Carter, Jr. has been named to the Butkus Award watch list, it was announced on Tuesday by the Butkus Foundation.

The Butkus award, now in its 32nd year, is awarded annually to the nation’s best linebacker.

Carter started all 12 games for the Terps at middle linebacker in 2015. He led the team with 103 tackles en route to being named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten.

The Fort Washington, Md. native posted 14.0 tackles for loss as a sophomore, the most for a Maryland middle linebacker since E.J. Henderson in 2002.

Semi-finalists for the Butkus Award will be named October 31, finalists November 21, and winners will be notified on or beforeDecember 6.

(I think he’s Maryland’s best defender, but that’s just me.)

Levern Jacobs, in his last year, could have a big year.

Brandon Ross, the former Maryland running back, is a Packer. It’ll surely be difficult for him to make the drop from Maryland’s QBs to the drastically inferior Aaron Rodgers.

Congratulations are in order for Maryland’s Micah Powell, on her way to Rio to represent Canada as a sprinter.

I'd be remiss not to mention that a spate of reported armed robberies occurred on Maryland's campus last night. This is terrifying, and it's shocking at a place that's moved far beyond a onetime reputation for danger in recent years. We're thinking about everyone affected and hoping the worst of this is well in the past.

Have a really good Wednesday.