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Mike Locksley explains heavy emphasis placed on defensive recruiting entering Year 3 at Maryland
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Maryland’s season on the field didn’t quite go as planned, but that didn’t hurt the Terps’ 2021 recruiting class.
As of now, Maryland has the No. 19 class in the country and the No. 4 class in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports Composite rankings.
The class is heavy on defense, with the top seven players in the class playing on that side of the ball. That includes four 4-star pass rushers who are all ranked in the 247Sports Composite’s top 300 prospects.
Coach Mike Locksley addressed the emphasis on defense during his Early Singing Period press conference on Wednesday.
“Defense wins championships,” Locksley said. “We talk a lot about the holy trinity of having success in football, is having a dominant O-Line, a dominant D-Line and having a quarterback.”
Locksley noted the Terps signed six offensive lineman in the class of 2020, so they felt like they could move on to other areas.
“We feel real good about this class,” Locksley said. “There’s a lot of talented players in our front seven. If you want to win in the Big Ten, you’ve got to be able to run the ball and stop the run. We put quite a bit of emphasis [on that] and our staff did a tremendous job of identifying the right kind of players to come in.”
Maryland is set to host Michigan State on Saturday to end its Big Ten schedule. The Terps are 2-3 this season.
Spenser is the news manager at Saturday Road and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.