A top recruiting analyst had lots of good things to say about Maryland football’s 2017 class

Maryland fans have a lot to feel good about in this recruiting cycle. New head coach DJ Durkin and his staff are bringing in a large class that might be the best in program history, and fanatics in our Twitter mentions aren’t the only ones sharing the optimism.

Speaking on The Audible, a podcast hosted by FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel, 247Sports recruiting analyst Ryan Bartow gushed about what the Terps have accomplished in this 2017 class thanks to the staff Durkin assembled.

Maryland’s class I love because they hired all these guys, even before London left. Aazaar and Chris Beatty and Walt Bell. All these guys have ties to the DMV area, and they’re actually beating out a lot of programs, especially for the four-star offensive tackles, the four-star corners in D.C., suburban D.C., so I love their class.

Maryland’s quarterback struggles have been well-documented in the past few years, and Bartow seems bullish on four-star commit Kasim Hill.

“They got their quarterback of the future in Kasim Hill,” he said. “I think they’re in great position to get another four-star DB in Castro-Fields coming up, you got Deon Jones, a top kid in Washington D.C.”

Apart from the unbridled optimism, Bartow gave insight on one important way Durkin operates differently from Edsall in recruiting.

I think they inherited a tough roster there because Edsall used to not allow assistants to offer kids until he personally watched three game films, so that put that Maryland program behind the gamut a little bit. Durkin is more proactive, knowing he has to be one of the first three offers, especially in the DMV area. I think that’s a program that the talent level will definitely flip in the next three years.

In other news

Maryland announced its early enrollees. Meet the eight Terrapins who just had their first day of school on Wednesday.

Maryland women’s basketball plays Illinois on the road tonight. Get caught up with our preview.

ESPN’s Brent Musburger is retiring.

Anthony McFarland is the second Maryland target this week to delay his commitment after appearing to lean away from the Terps. Could be good news.

Here’s The Washington Post’s Gene Wang on Brionna Jones’ ‘monster’ game against Rutgers.

Here’s our photo gallery from Maryland’s win over Rutgers.