Maryland's basketball recruiting class officially added a fourth member today when Charles Mitchell signed his letter of intent.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Marietta, Ga., committed to the Terps in March before Maryland's ACC tournament opener against Wake Forest. He joins Houston center Shaquille Cleare, Fredericksburg, Va., guard Seth Allen, and Wrentham, Mass., small forward Jake Layman in Maryland's 2012 recruiting class. Damonte Dodd, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Queen Anne's County High, hasn't yet signed his LOI.
"It's a great day for our program to be able to add Charles Mitchell to the Maryland basketball family," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said in a news release. "We have recruited Charles hard since we got to Maryland. His mom did a lot of things right while raising Charles to be a respectful kid and extremely hard worker. He is going to be a great addition to our frontcourt. Charles is a wide-bodied post who plays hard, is an excellent rebounder and can score around the basket. Charles fits in perfectly with the rest of our 2012 class, as he has a tremendous upside and will have a significant impact on our basketball program."
Said Mitchell: "First of all it's a great coaching staff with Coach Turgeon, Coach Bino [Ranson], Coach [Dalonte] Hill and Coach [Scott] Spinelli. I have a great relationship with them. I've known Coach Bino since I was 14-years-old since he came to our school to recruit other players. ... I love the fan support and the whole history of Maryland basketball. I wanted to come to a school that supports basketball and where the team is important to the fans."
Mitchell, Rivals.com's No. 92 prospect nationally in the 2012 class, picked the Terps over offers from Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Seton Hall and Tennessee. The Wheeler High star said he expects this recruiting class to help make Maryland a "real competitive program in the ACC and nationally."
"Some of my goals at Maryland are to build us back into a great program and hopefully compete for a national championship," Mitchell said in the news release. "I want everyone to respect us and bring us back to being a contender for the ACC championship and hopefully the national championship."