4-star 2018 QB Allan Walters says Maryland football will be 'at the top of my list' after Terps offer

The Maryland football program offered a scholarship on Monday to quarterback Allan Walters, a 2018 prospect from Paramus Catholic (N.J.), the same school that produced No. 1 overall recruit Rashan Gary in the class of 2016.

Walters said he spoke by phone around lunchtime Monday with Maryland head coach DJ Durkin. The coach told Walters Maryland would have good news for him, and he put Walters on the phone with Maryland offensive coordinator Walt Bell a few hours later. Bell offered Walters a scholarship, and the four-star recruit was excited about it.

"They'll be at the top of my list," Walters told Testudo Times.

Walters starts his spring break in a few days, and he plans to visit Alabama, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and maybe Mississippi State. There will be more visits to follow over the course of the next few months, as Walters begins to narrow his options.

Walters is rated by 247Sports as the No. 5 pro-style quarterback in the 2018 class, the top player in New Jersey and a top-100 player overall. He has offers from Alabama, Michigan, Ole Miss and a deep bench of other schools, and he has a history with Durkin.

When Durkin was Michigan's defensive coordinator last season, he visited Walters at Paramus Catholic, where he shared the field with Gary (an eventual Michigan commit) and a couple of other four-star prospects, including four-star Maryland target defensive tackle Corey Bolds.

Walters said he's learned a lot from playing for such a high-profile high school team, which regularly receives visits from major program college scouts and national recruiting media members.

"It's great," Walters said. "You learn a lot from it. You learn a lot about the recruiting process, the game of football. You go against the best players in the country every day in practice, and it only makes you better."

Walters' father is from the region, and he said he's visited College Park five or six times in the past. While former Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley worked for the Terps, the two developed a close relationship, and Walters liked Randy Edsall, too. (Edsall is now with the Detroit Lions, and Locksley, relevantly, with Alabama.)

There's another interesting wrinkle to Walters' relationship with Maryland. He's close friends with Dwayne Haskins, the former four-star Maryland commit who ultimately flipped his pledge this winter to Ohio State. While Haskins was committed to Maryland, he spoke with Walters about a possible succession plan.

"He said he'd come in and start it up, get Maryland back on the map, and I'd come in and take over," Walters said.

Haskins, of course, is gone. But Walters' interest in Maryland is genuine.

"Hopefully, guys like Dwayne could come in and, even though he went to Ohio State State, guys like me could come and change around the program and help get Maryland back to the top."

Here's footage of Walters' game: