Maryland football hires DeMatha’s Elijah Brooks as running backs coach

Maryland football has added another member to its staff, with former DeMatha head coach Elijah Brooks joining Mike Locksley’s staff as running backs coach.

The news was first reported by InsideMdSports’ Jeff Ermann Wednesday morning, and Testudo Times has been able to independently confirm with a source with knowledge of the proceedings.

Brooks has been linked to Maryland, and specifically to the coaching the running backs, in the last few years, but an offer to join Locksley’s staff sealed the deal. It’s a good fit: Brooks played running back in high school and college, then coached the backs at DeMatha before taking over as head honcho in 2011.

Brooks, 34, took over at DeMatha just four years removed from his own college experience. He graduated from the Hyattsville high school in 2002 after earning three varsity letters for football and basketball under Bill McGregor and Morgan Wootten. Brooks played both linebacker and running back in high school, but he’d stick on offense in college, racking up 463 yards from scrimmage as a Kent State freshman before transferring to William & Mary. Over the next three seasons, he racked up 2,562 rushing yards and 549 receiving yards out of the backfield.

He returned to DeMatha as a running backs coach on McGregor’s staff from 2007-11 before succeeding his former head coach after retirement. Brooks went 72-20 in eight seasons as a head coach, with four straight Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships from 2014-17, bringing the school total to 24. After not sending any players to Maryland under Randy Edsall, he built a relationship with DJ Durkin. The local coach sent eight players from DeMatha to Maryland between 2016-18, after sending none from 2012-15. Running back Anthony McFarland and cornerback Tino Ellis are among the four four-stars to come down the road in that span. No Stags have committed for 2019, but that could still change.

By bringing their high school coach on board, Maryland now has a better shot at flipping four-star defensive backs Nick Cross (Florida State commit) and DeMarcco Hellams (Alabama commit). He’ll also be reunited with Lorenzo Harrison III and McFarland, who broke onto the scene at DeMatha before missing his senior season with injury. McFarland picked up where he left off this season, earning a second team all-conference nod as a redshirt freshman and breaking various Maryland rookie rushing records in the process.

Brooks becomes the fourth publicly reported member of Locksley’s staff. In addition to Brooks, the staff now includes Butch Jones as associate head coach and tight ends coach, John Papuchis as special teams coordinator and linebackers coach and Cory Robinson returning to the school as defensive backs coach.