Maryland Signing Day summary: Rankings, trends and more

By foxsports
Published

Despite changing coaches midway through the year, Maryland ended up with a class that looked fairly similar on paper to recent groups of Terrapins signees. 

He was able to strengthen his future offensive front line and brought in a bunch of players to try to refurbish a secondary that struggled last season and will lose three starters. 

Scout.com national class ranking: 52

Big Ten ranking: 11

Top-rated prospect: Terrance Davis, a four-star offensive lineman from Maryland high school powerhouse Dematha Catholic, is the No. 96-ranked player in the country. 

Biggest area of need potentially filled: Defensive back, offensive line

Early enrollees: Three players have already enrolled at Maryland -- Damascus, Md., running back Jake Funk, Delray Beach (Fla.) Atlantic defensive back Antwaine Richardson and Wade Lees, a punter from Australia. 

Best long-term buy: Rather than one player, looking at some places Durkin found prospects could be instructive. He signed up players from well-known schools in his new home region including Dematha, Olney (Md.) Our Lady of Good Counsel and Washington (D.C.) Carroll while also snagging players from important recruiting states Florida, Ohio and Georgia. That could help him recruiting those places in the future. 

In state? 

This is a key area of talent acquisition for every school even though some live in different neighborhoods than others. 

Durkin has a lot of work to do when it comes to nailing down his new home state's borders. Maryland signed two of the 11 four-star recruits from Maryland -- Davis and his high school teammate Tino Ellis, a wide receiver who was the No. 10 prospect in the state. 

Penn State signed the top two players in the state -- Dematha defensive end Shane Simmons and Baltimore Gilman School defensive tackle Ellison Jordan -- while Ohio State flipped Our Lady of Good Counsel linebacker Keandre Jones and Potomac the Bullis School quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. a few days before Signing Day. 

Both Haskins and Jones had been Maryland commits. 

Alabama, Stanford, Oregon and West Virginia also signed four-stars from Maryland. 

Ranking trends: Durkin's first class ranked five spots lower nationally than predecessor Randy Edsall's last class, but it was nine spots higher than Edsall's 2014 effort. 

The Terps' four-year national recruiting average is 52, and they have averaged roughly the No. 10 class in the Big Ten since joining the conference.