Mike Locksley has always been considered an elite recruiter, an expert on getting young, talented prospects to buy into his message and commit to his program. The Maryland head coach is pretty confident in his abilities on the recruiting trail, as well.

Locksley has been known to recruit the DMV area — Washington D.C, Maryland, Virginia — extremely well. His deep ties and connections have allowed him to land some of the top prospects from that rich recruiting soil wherever he’s been. One of those talented guys was former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins.

When Locksley was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Maryland from 2012-15, he recruited Haskins hard, hoping to land one of the nation’s best passers. But things took a turn.

Haskins initially committed to Maryland, but head coach Randy Edsall was fired and Locksley was pushed into the position on an interim basis. After a 1-5 finish for the Terps, Maryland opted to bring in DJ Durkin rather than retain Locksley.

Haskins decommitted, pledge to Ohio State, and went on to set numerous school and B1G records and wound up being a first-round draft pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. All of that could’ve happened at College Park, and Locksley believes it would have, if he was hired to be the head coach four years ago.

“No doubt about it,” Locksley said, when asked by Cleveland.com if Haskins would’ve stayed true to his commitment if Locksley was named the head coach in 2016. “Dwayne and Keandre (Jones) would have been Terrapins.”

Jones actually returned to Maryland this season, transferring out of Ohio State.

None of that played out, but it would’ve been interesting to see what kind of numbers and how much success Haskins would’ve had under Locksley at Maryland. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

But Locksley is back at Maryland, and now in a full-time situation. And he’s not letting many of those talented players from the DMV area slip through his fingers.