Stefon Diggs Signs at Maryland: Randy Edsall, Mike Locksley and Kevin Anderson Score
By Kyle Kensing
Programs with three combined champions and five BCS title game appearances in the past six years were in the running for blue chip wideout Stefon Diggs. Yet on Friday night, Auburn, Ohio State and Florida lost out to a team that finished the past season 2-10.
The talented Diggs is a prep prospect cut from the same cloth as 2011 standout Sammy Watkins, and could have an immediate impact on a Maryland offense that ranked No. 87 in the Bowl Subdivision. Thus, there’s instant gratification for Randy Edsall’s Terrapins with this surprise signing.
However, the long term results of keeping a highly touted, local prospect in the area speaks volumes for UM’s off-season shake-ups. Edsall needed to make changes after the disappointing campaign. He strapped into a seat that was warm from the onset — UM fans and various pundits threw out marquee names for the vacancy made following the 2010 season. When Edsall was given the job in January 2011, his hire was met with boisterous criticism. The brutal season didn’t help perception.
Edsall brought Mike Locksley onto the staff in December, despite Locksley’s ill-fated and tumultuous tenure as New Mexico’s head coach. Certainly the hire raised eyebrows. Locksley was fired midway through the Lobos’ campaign following a loss to FCS opponent Sam Houston State. It was UNM’s 26th loss under Locksley in just 21/2 years, with just two wins in the same span.
Beyond the wins and losses, which undoubtedly contributed to Locksley’s dismissal, various issues surfaced. Locksley was reprimanded for fighting an assistant the first month into his first season — four months after he was accused of various forms of harassment and discrimination by a UNM staff. The kicker was the night of the SHSU loss, a teenager who identified himself as a recruit was arrested driving Locksley’s wife’s automobile.
Landing at Maryland after such a rollercoaster ride, just three months after he was fired was a controversial move. Some might even call it a desperation move by Edsall, who had calls for his own firing after the Terps’ disastrous loss at NC State in the season finale.
Regardless of the motivation, Edsall’s hiring Locksley took chutzpah. Beyond the embattled coach’s problems in the Land of Enchantment, he made his name under the head coach athletic director Kevin Anderson had fired, Ralph Friedgen. And what kind of firing would that have been had it not been controversial?
Friedgen was the program’s most successful coach in decades, and despite a downturn in the late Aughties, rebounded for a nine-win final campaign. Edsall dipping into Friedgen’s former staff is an interesting nod to the Fridge’s past success, albeit a tricky one.
Bringing on Locksley, the man credited with landing signees who yielded the Terrapins’ sole BCS appearance seems like an admission that the predecessor was right. Friedgen’s firing was Anderson’s first big move as UM AD, so allowing a Fridge assistant back into the fold is an intriguing angle to this situation.
Anderson has faced his own scrutiny in a short time on the job. Beyond the surprising Edsall hire, Anderson was criticized for failing to lure Sean Miller away from Arizona to replace Gary Williams as UM’s basketball coach. Meanwhile, eight varsity sports are on the chopping block at UM.
The success of the football program in 2012 is a must for all three men: Locksley, Anderson and Edsall. Their shared gambles paid their first dividends Friday night, when Diggs signed his Letter Of Intent. Someone once said that football is what Maryland does.
And while the state isn’t necessarily known for its dominant prep pigskin, establishing a prominent recruiting profile in the entire Mid-Atlantic is a key to righting UM’s ship.
It’s a weighty responsibility for one high schooler, but Diggs might be the answer Maryland needs.