Mike Locksley was named the new head coach of the University of Maryland’s football team following the Jordan McNair scandal which resulted in former head coach D.J. Durkin’s termination and the promotion of Matt Canada to interim head coach. Although he was the Alabama offensive coordinator this year, Locksley has had multiple stints at Maryland throughout his coaching career. His first stint lasted from 1997 to 2002, where he was the running back’s coach. He then left the program in 2002 before returning in 2012 to be the offensive coordinator under Randy Edsall, and remained at Maryland until 2015.
Now in his third stint at the school, Locksley has risen through the ranks to become head coach, which is his second head coaching gig,the first being at the University of New Mexico from 2009 to 2011. Locksley’s hiring came with a lot of approval from the Terps fan base due to Locksley’s impressive recruiting skills.
Throughout his time at Maryland and Alabama, Locksley has been known as one of the top recruiters in the nation. During these jobs, he recruited five 5-star recruits and 16 4-star recruits, according to 247Sports. The most notable of the recruits were NFL stars, Stefon Diggs and Yannick Ngakoue, Locksley somehow convinced these DMV natives to pick Maryland over football powerhouses such as Florida State, Ohio State and Auburn. In just about two months on the job at Maryland, Locksley has already transformed the 2019 recruiting class.
Before he came in as head coach, Maryland’s 2019 recruiting class ranked among the lowest of any power five conference team. However, in these two months Locksley has brought Maryland all the way up to 46th in the nation for the 2019 recruiting class. The main reason for this was Locksley’s success in flipping two four star recruits from Florida State to Maryland, quarterback Lance LeGendre and safety Nick Cross. So what’s next for Locksley?
Maryland football has been in a drought for some time, and Locksley will certainly bring some success to the program going forward. With Locksley’s excellent recruiting skills, the talent on the team will definitely improve for the years to come. In the 2020 class alone, Maryland is targeting multiple top recruits like MarShawn Lloyd and Rakim Jarrett, both of whom are from the DMV area and are interested in Maryland. If he can bring in these top recruits, Maryland football will no doubt rise through the ranks and become a football powerhouse once again.
