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Maryland football’s recruiting is reaching new heights under DJ Durkin, and there’s even more data to back up this assertion.
Putting his team’s 2017 recruiting class in context with the rest of the country’s new head coaches, Durkin’s staff came out with the best improvement from Year 1, when coaches have to scramble to assemble their staffs and establish relationships with recruits, to Year 2, when they’re more cemented in their areas.
Our friend Alex Kirshner at SB Nation did God’s work, tallying up how each new head coach did in his first full recruiting cycle.
How coaches fared on Signing Day in Year 2
| Team | Coach | 2016 Rk. | 2017 Rk. | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Coach | 2016 Rk. | 2017 Rk. | Change |
| UTSA | Frank Wilson | 107 | 73 | 34 |
| Bowling Green | Mike Jinks | 116 | 86 | 30 |
| Ball State | Mike Neu | 111 | 84 | 27 |
| Texas State | Everett Withers | 110 | 85 | 25 |
| Maryland | DJ Durkin | 42 | 18 | 24 |
| Louisiana-Monroe | Matt Viator | 118 | 96 | 22 |
| Rutgers | Chris Ash | 61 | 42 | 19 |
| Southern Miss | Jay Hopson | 98 | 79 | 19 |
| Toledo | Jason Candle | 91 | 75 | 16 |
| Virginia Tech | Justin Fuente | 40 | 25 | 15 |
| UCF | Scott Frost | 66 | 54 | 12 |
| Syracuse | Dino Babers | 64 | 55 | 9 |
| Miami (FL) | Mark Richt | 21 | 13 | 8 |
| Hawaii | Nick Rolovich | 106 | 98 | 8 |
| Virginia | Bronco Mendenhall | 63 | 56 | 7 |
| USC | Clay Helton | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| Georgia | Kirby Smart | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| South Carolina | Will Muschamp | 25 | 21 | 4 |
| Memphis | Mike Norvell | 62 | 59 | 3 |
| Iowa State | Matt Campbell | 55 | 53 | 2 |
| East Carolina | Scottie Montgomery | 78 | 78 | 0 |
| Missouri | Barry Odom | 43 | 50 | -7 |
| North Texas | Seth Littrell | 102 | 114 | -12 |
| BYU | Kalani Sitake | 51 | 67 | -16 |
| Tulane | Willie Fritz | 85 | 104 | -19 |
| Georgia Southern | Tyson Summers | 73 | 97 | -24 |
The only teams above Maryland are UTSA, Bowling Green, Ball State and Texas State. None of those teams play in Power 5 conferences.
Of the top 10 teams, no other ones were even remotely close to Maryland’s position. The rest moved from positions in the 100s to the 80s and 70s. Maryland improved from No. 42 to No. 18. No other programs made the leap from mediocre to top 20.
Elsewhere, Rutgers jumped from No. 61 to No. 42, and Virginia Tech went from No. 40 to No. 25. But Maryland, which signed its best recruiting class ever, has a better rate of improvement and a higher finishing spot than they did.
In other news
Maryland basketball lost to Penn State, which was unexpected.
Here’s Alex on Maryland’s recruiting success for SB Nation.
Our National Signing Day positional recaps reached the wide receivers, who are tall but undeveloped.
Steve Sarkisian, who took over as Alabama’s offensive coordinator right before the National Championship, is headed to Atlanta to become the Falcons’ new offensive coordinator.