Terps fans in state of denial

Let's face it, a lot of high school kids want to leave the State, and in some cases it is probably better that they leave bad influences. And if I were a 4-5 star recruit and the SEC was calling, sorry MD. I'm a MD grad, huge Terp fan but every year I go on a college football trip and we almost always go to an SEC game because there is no comparison. If you don't believe me, take a trip to Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge for a big conference game. Although I personally can't stand the Big 10, Happy Valley on game day is a little more exciting than College Park. For a number of reasons, fans around here are just not as devoted as they are in places like PSU and throughout the SEC, and when a high school kid is going on college visits that is something that makes an impression.

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. Re: your "rant" about the Terps vs PSU recruiting Maryland HS Fball players, why is it that a writer expressing his views in a public forum is chagrined when others express their opposite views on the subject? Cannot we, as readers, not have their opinons also? Or are we to take everything that is written as gospel and are not allowed to voice our displeasure? I neither agree or disagree with Lovelaces article and support his right to pen it but to say Terp fans & supporters are out of line to voice their disagreement smacks of censorship. It just seems smug and self-righteous to me. BTW, re: in state recruiting, just how many in state recruits that chose the Terps over PSU, have had solid to spectacular careers in the NFL vs those that chose PSU? Substanially more, I would say.
Again, you writers should get off your high horse and accept that there are differing views on topics you espouse.

Both Sun writers express obvious facts about the state of MD vs PSU recruiting, but the question is does that really even have a place in the Sun at all? As the home town and home team newspaper should the Sun really be printing information that is intended to put down UMD Football and praise PSU? If this was a PA newspaper I could understand the article but given the circumstances I believe that the home town paper's duty is to encourage its local sports, not disparage them.

Yea, like having DWill's father getting CANNED at the University of Maryland had NOTHING to do with that stunningly AVERAGE player going to State Penn?

Like Logan-EL wasn't just a fat idiot who tried to showboat and got revealed for the crappy player he was.

They have gotten something like 10 players over the past 7 years and half of them got arrested or flunked out and only a couple have even amounted to amything.

The 2009 players haven't done a single thing so when they do something outside of getting arrested and/or underachieving, let us all know.

So, where is the article about State Penn getting it's clock cleaned up Pitt and the other Big 10 teams?

You act like this article wasn't poorly researched and biased? It only gave half the story, the one that made Maryland look bad.

Of course, that doesn't matter since the Baltimore Sun is so IN THE TANK for State Penn that you make me sick.

Make sure you do an expose when ESPN Between The Lines does it's thing in a few weeks exposing State Penn for what it has become, low ethics and underachievement.

BTW, did you notice that the #1 ranked player this past year was from Pennsylvania and isn't going to State Penn? Why don't you write something about that?

Keith - You are correct that the Terps haven't done a great job of attracting and keeping local talent. That is a story and is fair to report. Some of that is certainly related to the fact that most kids seem to want to "go away" for college when they have the opportunity, no matter what their social or economic status might be. Just look at the huge number of New Jersey and New York kids that go to UM, Towson and Loyola, the vast majority of which come from great economic situations.
That said, you and The Sun miss the point, that most readers are tired of the incessant negativity of this newspaper, whether it has to do with the state of UM football, basketball or something else. You fail to realize that your writing and printing stories like yesterdays just makes it more difficult to keep home grown talent at UM.
How about you all get down there and do some real reporting on the incredible, positive things that are happening.

Tuscaloosa....hahaha

My Warhawks beat those posers (2007).....

But since they're SEC they go bowling annually.

Hey Terps fold the ACC into the SunBelt....

The ACC hates a small conference foe.....

What's the matter Col. Sanders? Chicken?

Oh yeah we beat Kentucky a couple of years back, too...

It's funny, you say the "paranoia" of Maryland football fans fascinates you. Well, I'm fascinated by the insularity and defensiveness of the Baltimore Sun sports department. For example, Gary Williams called Heather Dinich to complain/vent about an article she wrote. Within a day or two, Rick Maese came to Heather's defense and blasted Williams in print. Similarly, you rush to Stefen Lovelace's defense and blast Maryland fans in this blog entry. Stefen's a professional, I'm sure he's fully capable of defending himself.
Anyway, getting to the subject matter of your "rant," I feel comfortable in stating that many Maryland fans were more upset by the way the article was constructed than the overall point of the article. I concede that Maryland needs to do a better job keeping in-state talent at home and also admit that Penn State has found some success recruiting here in specific years. However, the article neglected some key details that made it appear either sloppy or slanted, some of which you alluded to in this blog entry:
1. Penn State's program has had an extremely poor disciplinary track record in recent years. How does this relate to Penn State recruiting in Maryland? Well, Lovelace's article mentions three players from the "05 class who are not currently part of the program: Logan El, Navorro Bowman, and Phil Taylor. Bowman and Taylor aren't currently with the program because of disciplinary troubles, namely, separate assaults that resulted in legal charges. Lovelace's article should have mentioned this.
2. Penn State has failed to recruit well in Maryland between the '05 class and the current recruiting cycle. For example, Kenny Tate was a priority recruit for Penn State last year and they also heavily recruited Maryland defensive tackle Zach Kerr. Both went to Maryland. If Lovelace wanted to cite the '05 Penn State success, he also should have cited their failures to beat Maryland for local recruits last season.
3. Penn State has done a poor job keeping their own talent at home. Rivals.com recently released their top 40 players in the state of Pennsylvania for the '09 class. Of the top 15 players in the state, Penn State has only secured one commitment. Incidentally, that's as many as Maryland has secured from that listing. Admittedly, 5 of the 15 players on that list have not made decisions yet, but the numbers are still a bit troubling for Penn State and I would argue that their failures in their own state would warrant at least a passing mention in the article. In fact, the article could also have noted that Da'Rel Scott, expected to be Maryland's starting RB this fall and a potential breakout player, is a Pennsylvania native.
Again, my issue with Lovelace's article is not that it addressed the subject of Penn State's recruiting in Maryland. It's that the article did not fully explore the subject and provide a balanced perspective on the topic. I'm not advocating shooting the messenger, but I would prefer that the messenger tell the entire story.

Once again another Sun writer takes aim at bashing its local audience. This is simple logic...if you don't want your mailbox filled with hate mail, then DO NOT INSULT your intended audience. You will get no sympathy from me, Mr. Lovelace.

As for Penn State's continual success in recruiting in the state of MD, it's to be expected. We have known this for decades. Why it took so long for someone at the Sun to write an article on this is beyond me. Why the Sun would allow someone from Penn State to take on this article further boggles my mind.

The problem was that it didn't seem balanced as it concentrated on one narrow aspect of the PSU/UMD without some semblance of the bigger picture. Some people on these Terp related posts took things too far (as they tend to do here - there's plenty of stuff flying around), but there is some legitimacy to some of the complaints. The article SEEMED to be based around supporting the writer's assumption or position rather than painting the entire picture.

Both schools are winning and losing battles. Do we wish every local kid stayed in state? Of course, but in this day and age, and this crowded football crazed area - that's just not possible anymore. There are very few areas that have a near total lock on their local talent and they pretty much have to be at the very top of the football pinnacle - and neither PSU or UMD are right now.

<<<WAS BORN IN PENNSYLVANIA

Go Panthers
Go Quakers
Go Owls

Oh yeah and go JoePa and that cat team

have you looked at facts 6 this year 7 in 06 and every other year no more than 2 and 0 in the past two years. i am a south carolina gamecocks fan vut follow college football and can tell you this was a biased piece of reporting and your defense just adds to the lack of credibbility your paper has.

yea md wanted the supposed top players in the state but your story neglected to mention psu has 1 player of the top 15 in pa this year and 3 total.

you also neglected to mention only two of the players who have choose psu were recruited hard by umd.

YOU ARE A BALTIMORE PAPER IN THE STATE OF MARYLAND ACT LIKE IT

Look lets sum this up very quickly. The ravens , the orioles, the terps, and for that matter anything in the state of Md flies under the radar of the nantinal media. We are rated as being second class. So it's very natural for a young recruit with any talent to want to get out of this state so he gets NATIONAL EXPOSURE. Even when the ravens won the super bowl they tried very hard to play it down. We don't even exist in many many people eyes.

Good points JW. I think Penn State's trouble keeping in-State recruits underscores the point that a lot of kids just want to get away.

And Sun Belt Larry -- I think you (probably knowingly) missed the point of my post. It is great when a school like ULM (mediocre in their own conference?) can pull an upset against a team like Alabama. Even if Bama had a down year, that is still a great upset. I haven't ever been more excited in my living room than last year when that kid from App State blocked the Mich field goal, scooped up the football and raced down the sidelines. I love to root for anyone against schools like Alabama (PSU, Michigan, Ohio State et al.), but the point is that the college football atmosphere in places like Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Baton Rouge, Knoxville etc. is way better than anything in the Sun Belt or most of the ACC for that matter. And recruits going on visits to schools where college football is King are going to be easily swayed.

It seems as though Ralph and staff are signing (for the most part) really good, solid kids. And it also seems as though he and the staff are doing a good job instilling discipline off the field. He has been all over the few minor incidents, like the time he showed up at the Corner in his slippers at 2am. There is something to be said for that. As an alum who has not forgotten the really bad times, I feel good about the program, even if Kevin and LovePennStateLace don't.

yea and our local paper helps alot with articles like these. check the columbia,sc paper and you'll get more usc than clemson which is in the SAME STATE. if your gonna be biased be bias to the hometown terps.

Does ANY state school get ALL of the in-state recruits they want?
The fact that you're defending Lovelace speaks volumes. Did the sports editorial board tell you to write this article just like they told Lovelace to write his? Y'all are just trying to stir things up.

It is one thing to report that the Terps are not keeping enough in-state players if you are not a UPS grad. But if you are a UPS grad, you should let your bias be known or at least report that UPS does a terrible job of keeping in-state talent also when you are talking about how well they do outside the state of PA. Was it an article about how poorly Md does or about how well UPS does?

Hey about an article on the recruits from Pennslyvania that Penn State offered but chose MD instead ? Talk to Jordan Steffy or D'Rel Scott about that. The problem with the article is that it is very one sided. Half those recruits (see Logan-El) never panned out- wheres the article of Penn State's failure to properly evaluate talent before recruiting talent. I saw a link by former Sun writer Heather Dinch that also questioned whether any of these MD players for Penn State amounted to much. After joining the Big Ten, PSU's days as a national title contender have pretty much ended. I would also appreciate an article on Penn State basketball on their quest for even a single NCAA bid this or last century.

Everyone seems to be complaining about the Sun writing an article that states the truth - why? This is a real problem with football and basketball and if we are going to be successful we should be able to man up and face this issue and discuss it without getting all upset and offended at the mere mention of it. So many of you wasted your posts talking about the article rather than the substance of it; why don't we get talking about what we're going to DO about it? Not that any of us are actual recruiters for the school but if we're going to spend the time to come onto these forums, why not do something constructive for once? Most of you seem to have some serious knowledge of the recruits, you obviously know what you're talking about. Get over the article and the writer for a moment. What can we do about keeping these kids home for a change? What changes need to be made, how about some ideas? Someone mentioned the atmosphere at Happy Valley on gameday, that seems like a simple adjustment that we could work on logistically for the football players, step up the excitement, do something to make it a serious occasion. This is DIVISION I FOOTBALL, we're playing against top teams and we added to the ACC recently so we should be getting more coverage now. Let's start acting like we are top notch - some Maryland games seem like Division II games based on the tv coverage. I'm just thinking off the top of my head, some of you have got to have some ideas, we're all fans but some of you live and breathe this stuff. I'm more of a Ravens fan but I definitely love the Terps football and basketball programs as well, and it pains me to see our homegrown talent leave us.

"Everyone seems to be complaining about the Sun writing an article that states the truth - why?"

Read all the comments from this and the PSU article and you'll see why.

People are sick of the Sun and it's half ass journalism. The stories about UM sports are terrible. Most of the other articles are too.

The only coverage that is worth anything is Ravens or HS Lacrosse.

There are no blatant lies in these articles. Just crappy half ass stories that make everyone paranoid.

The PSU angle of this article should have been crushed the second it was proposed.

Don't make it about UM vs PSU. That's so f-ing amateur.

Ryan wrote:

"Everyone seems to be complaining about the Sun writing an article that states the truth - why?"
Read all the comments from this and the PSU article and you'll see why.
People are sick of the Sun and it's half ass journalism. The stories about UM sports are terrible. Most of the other articles are too.
The only coverage that is worth anything is Ravens or HS Lacrosse.
There are no blatant lies in these articles. Just crappy half ass stories that make everyone paranoid.
The PSU angle of this article should have been crushed the second it was proposed.
Don't make it about UM vs PSU. That's so f-ing amateur.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying that at all, but let's also not deny the facts - recruiting is a major issue for MD basketball and football. The big issue at hand, in my opinion, is not the Sun and this article. The issue is what can be done to change these recruits' minds about staying home instead of leaving? It isn't like we're talking about Harford Community College (my alma mater) vs. Penn State or Florida, we're talking about a great school, Maryland has a lot to offer that obviously is not being presented in the best way! Somehow, we need better recruiters or something, I don't pretend to have the answer BTW, but something to change the perception that leaving Maryland is the best way to go for these kids.

What level of involvement do our alumni play in the recruitment? Are they allowed (per NCAA regulations) to participate in the process? Would former Terp greats in either sport be able to meet, albeit briefly, with these kids and tell them about the good times they had as Terps, to help sway them in our direction?