Terps offensive tackle commitment R.J. Dill is keeping in good shape this winter.
Dill and his Trinity High School basketball team advanced to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA round of eight with its 52-49 win over Wilkes-Barre GAR on Wednesday. Dill's teammate Matt Donahue told The Sentinel Online that Dill's play was crucial to Trinity's win.
"... The offensive rebounds by (R.J.) Dill and (Christian) Kuntz were huge tonight and they gave us second chance points. Keeping Dill on the floor was big because he provides a presence and we are a different team when he is out there."
(Click into the link above for a great photo of a Godzilla-like Dill hauling in a loose ball. The facial expression of his much smaller teammate in the lower right corner is priceless.)
• Dill wasn't the only future Terp football player keeping busy this winter. Surrattsville running back Davin Meggett tore up the Prince George's County indoor track scene, earning first-team All-County honors from The Gazette.
Meggett displayed his versatility this track season as he finished third in the 55 dash at the 1A state championships. But the senior didn't stop on the track, as he took second in the shot put at the state championships and won that event at the county championships.
• Ballou (D.C.) dual-threat quarterback Emmanuel Yeager doesn't sport a Terps offer yet, but it sounds like he's hoping that changes in a hurry.
Meanwhile, the D.C. quarterback just returned from a visit recently.
"I went to Maryland on Friday and it went extremely well," he said. "Coach Friedgen is down to earth. They run a similar offensive package to what we do here at Ballou."
• Another Mid-Atlantic quarterback to watch is Vienna (Va.) Oakton's Chris Coyer. Coyer had nice things to say about the Terps in this Yahoo! Sports article.
"I went to Maryland for a junior day," he said. "I love Maryland, it's a good school. I like watching them on TV."
But in the same article, Coyer named a couple of his current favorites.
"I'd say I kind of like Auburn since they recently got a new offensive coordinator," he said. "Virginia is obviously attractive to me too. I know a lot of people there and there are former teammates at the school."
• Tuscarora cornerback Dominic Clarke may have picked up his first offer (Pittsburgh) according to Yahoo! Sports, but the Terps have also been in touch.
College interest has peaked for the Maryland prospect since his appearance in the U.S. Army All-American combine last month where he earned first team defensive honors.
"A lot of schools are coming through, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Maryland and Connecticut are in touch," he said. "I just went to Maryland and Pittsburgh over the weekend and the visits were good."
• Apparently there's a lot of overlap between Maryland, South Carolina and Clemson football recruiting. According to this article from The (Columbia, S.C.) State, the Terps are recruiting more than a few Gamecocks and Tigers targets in the 2009 class. One player mentioned, linebacker Adrian Cavanaugh, is headed to College Park this weekend.
Clemson is showing interest in linebacker Adrian Cavanaugh (5-11, 210) of Ashland, Va. He visited Clemson last season for the Virginia Tech game. He has been to Virginia for junior day and plans to go to Maryland this Saturday. Cavanaugh has an offer from Richmond and also is hearing from Syracuse, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
• Traveling back north up the East Coast, it appears that UM is putting some resources into Massachusetts for the '09 class – in particular Dartmouth High School. Dartmouth tight end Arthur Fontaine has already been offered, while safety Sean Sylvia has interest in the Terps.
"My sister went to Boston College and if they offered that's obviously somewhere I'd like to go," he said. "I'm really leaning towards Connecticut and possibly doing my own thing. Jordan Todman is going there; they have great facilities and a good staff. They are also close. One other school that I'm interested in is Maryland, I'm probably going to camp there."
• North Carolina linebacker Hawatha Bell sports an early Maryland offer, according to Rivals.com. But according to Yahoo! Sports, there are two other schools out in front for Bell's services.
"South Carolina and Virginia Tech are the only two sticking out," he said. "I went down to a junior day at South Carolina a couple of weekends ago and I had a great time."
Basketball recruiting
• For those that missed the story yesterday, Terps shooting guard commitment Sean Mosley had a pretty decent Baltimore Catholic League championship game on Wednesday night. Mosley scored a season-high 35 points in leading St. Frances to a 66-61 win over Mount St. Joseph.
Mosley took Most Valuable Player honors last night, just as he did as a freshman, but the numbers showed his maturity under Wells, who won his sixth BCL title in 20 years to tie the late Ray Mullis of Cardinal Gibbons for the most in tournament history.
• Depending on how Maryland's scholarship situation works out, here's another potential 2009 prospect for the Terps – Norfolk, Va. power forward Deshawn Painter. According to this article from The Daily Press (Va.), the Terps have a lot of company on Painter's list.
"Virginia is definitely in the running," said Painter, who is 6-feet-9. "All of the attention is new to me, and they were the first big time school that offered me."
The wish list for Painter is long, but it includes Florida, Maryland, Ohio State, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Louisville. He's also got some interest from Duke and North Carolina.
