With Tyler DeSue committed, Maryland has its best quarterback situation in a long time

Throughout the better part of the last century and the early years of this one, Maryland has had some pretty good quarterbacks at the helm. In the past 10 years, though, almost every Maryland quarterback has been plagued by injury and/or ineffectiveness.

Between the 2012 injury parade and the 2015 interception barrage, Maryland was hard to watch at times. But now, things are looking up.

In his relatively short tenure in College Park, DJ Durkin has elevated Maryland to a level of recruiting few could have imagined. In the Class of 2017, Durkin signed the best local quarterback of the class, Kasim Hill, in what would end up being the highest-rated recruiting class in Maryland’s history. Now, just 10 weeks after the historic class signed and almost one year to the date after Hill committed, Maryland has yet another local, four-star quarterback in the fold.

Bishop Sullivan’s (Va.) Tyler DeSue, a quarterback whose legs make him just as big a threat as his arm does, verbally committed to Maryland on Wednesday. If he stays committed and signs next February, the Terps will have two young players with the potential to be game changers at the quarterback position.

And let’s not forget about former four-star recruit Caleb Henderson, who transferred from North Carolina to Maryland before last season and is ready to lead the offense going into the fall campaign. He’s been working with the first team in spring practice and appears to be on the inside track to start in the season opener. He’s got two years of eligibility left and should, at the very least, hold down the position for the short term while Hill gets acclimated to college.

DeSue’s commitment and pedigree ensures that beyond Henderson, the Terps should be able to string together several consecutive years of competent quarterback play.

More immediately, DeSue’s commitment could be the first of many big dominoes to fall in the 2018 Maryland recruiting cycle. Durkin and his staff are recruiting high-profile players all over the field, and now that there’s a quarterback in place, some of those guys may be ready to commit.

Last year, Hill became the fourth recruit to join Maryland’s class on April 9. Three-star outside linebacker Ayinde Eley followed immediately, as did seven more four-star players. Even five-star defensive end Joshua Kaindoh was committed from April until the end of November.

This year, Maryland will try to build its class around DeSue. Now that he’s in, the coaches can focus their attention on landing other top targets — something they’ve proven they can do well in their short time in College Park.

This week’s offers

2018 defensive end Patrick Keenan:

2018 defensive end Jayson Oweh:

2018 defensive tackle Kingston Harris:

2020 linebacker Antoine Sampah:

2020 defensive end Jacolbe Cowan:

2019 cornerback Nyquee Hawkins:

Other recruiting news

A bunch of recruits visited campus in the past week. Here are all those who have tweeted about it:

2018 safety Mondo Walker seems to have enjoyed his visit:

2018 wide receiver Da’Kendall James thought Maryland was “tough”:

2018 defensive back Lance Boykin is “thankful” for his Maryland visit:

2019 athlete Maada Kposowa wants to come back to College Park:

2018 athlete Moses Kamara “enjoyed” his visit:

2018 linebacker Nihym Anderson came south from New Jersey:

2018 linebacker Isaih Pacheco is Anderson’s teammate:

2019 defensive end Brandon Smith went with a pre-visit tweet:

2018 athlete Ebrahim Cham was polite and thankful:

2018 athlete Danny Taylor wants to reserve his jersey now:

2020 athlete Konner Taylor brought some others with him:

2019 quarterback Sam Powell “had an amazing time”:

JuCo linebacker Kareem McDonald went to Woodrow Wilson in Washington:

2018 athlete Kyle Klink plays offense and defense: