Maryland and talent

If any of you have been to College Park, Md., you've probably been struck with the following question at one time or another:

Why would anyone want to come here?

The above picture probably isn't a fair portrait of the place, but still. There's just not much redeeming about College Park, other than the fact that it's located near Washington, D.C.

Take that, combined with the fact that Ralph Friedgen doesn't come off as the world's best salesman, and it's easy to wonder how in the world Maryland recruits high-level athletes.

One of the popular topics on the message board over the last few days has been the assumed hiring of Mike Leach to replace Friedgen, and whether Leach would be able to recruit the talent he needs to College Park.

Before we go any further, some folks up there don't believe the Leach-to-Maryland thing is as much of a done deal as has been presented.

Anderson was candid about his interest in Leach. He told me he was impressed with Leach's record of graduating players. He called Leach "cerebral."

Could Leach be hired by Maryland? Absolutely.

But was Anderson merely trying to throw me off (I don't think so) when he also said the following about Leach?

“Is he interested because it’s Maryland or is he interested because he wants to get back in coaching? I want somebody here because it is Maryland and what it stands for and everything else. I’m not looking for somebody who wants to come in and coach because they want and need a job.”

Or when he said this:

""I know a lot of people who just went through the coaching search, and they sat down and they talked to him. And these are people in my business that I have a high regard for. At the end of the day, they didn't hire him. But you know what? I need to know [more]."

So Leach might not be a lead-pipe lock. But for the sake of an interesting discussion, let's assume he ends up there. Would recruiting to Maryland be more difficult than recruiting to Texas Tech?

The common assumption is yes. The Lone Star State is loaded with talent, so a lot of folks have the perception that Leach was able to capitalize on that during his time as the Pirate in Chief.

I'm not so sure about that. First of all, Lubbock is in the middle of nowhere (here's a geography lesson--six hours from Dallas). And a lot of schools are contending for all that talent -- and not just the in-state schools.

I don't place an overwhelming amount of stock in recruiting rankings, but here's what the Red Raiders' Rivals rankings have looked like since 2005:

2005: 37th
2006: 25th
2007: Outside Top 50
2008: 45th
2009: 33rd
2010: 41st
Currently: 15th

And Maryland's:

2005: 16th
2006: 29th
2007: 35th
2008: 38th
2009: 26th
2010: 36th
Currently: 37th

It's also interesting to take a look at how these two programs have fared in the NFL Draft.

Maryland has totaled 13 picks in the last five drafts, a figure that ranks eighth in the ACC. Two of those picks have been selected in the first round.

Over the same stretch, Texas Tech has totaled nine NFL Draft picks with one first-rounder.

Just in case you were wondering, here's a look at the full ACC draft numbers from 2005-10:

TOTAL
1. Virginia Tech 26
2. Miami 22
3. Florida State 20
4. Clemson 19
5. Georgia Tech 16
6. N.C. State 15
7. Virginia 14
8. Maryland 13
9. Wake Forest 12
10. Boston College 11
11. North Carolina 10
12. Duke 0

FIRST ROUND
1. Florida State 6
2. Miami 5
3. Boston College 4
3. Virginia 4
5. Clemson 3
5. Georgia Tech 3
5. N.C. State 3
8. Maryland 2
9. North Carolina 2
10. Virginia Tech 1
11. Wake Forest 1
12. Duke 0

Miami's record in the ACC: 25-23 and no ACC title game appearances.

Amazing.

Wonder what Leach would've done with all that talent?

LW