Maryland Football: 3 reasons Taulia Tagovailoa will turn Terrapins around

1. Tagovailoa’s name will help boost recruiting

Talent and potential are not the only attributes that Taulia Tagovailoa will bring to the Maryland program. His name alone will help bring solid recruits and high-caliber players for their team.

The Terrapins signed their fifth-ever five-star recruit in program history in Rakim Jarrett in the 2020 class. The Terrapins finished with the 31st-ranked recruiting class of 2020. This was an improvement from the 2019 recruiting class where they finished 47th.

The Terrapins currently have the 13th-ranked top recruiting class of 2021 with three current three-star prospects committed. Locksley has brought some excellent recruiting to the Terrapins with the program seeing some dramatic increases.

With the program looking to set the standard for wins and consistency, the high-caliber prospects will also increase gradually. Coach Locksley, a former Nick Saban assistant, has become an excellent recruiter much like other former assistants under the Hall of Famer like Jimbo Fisher at Florida State and Texas A&M, Kirby Smart at Georgia and Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee.

The acquiring of Tagovailoa is just a continuation of a solid and consistent program that coach Locksley is building. Acquiring an efficient, high-power quarterback was a huge step in building a program that has been far behind the top contenders in the Big Ten in Ohio State and Michigan.

It will take a while for the Terrapins to become consistent conference title contenders even with Tagovailoa added to the team. There are plenty of areas that the Terrapins will need to develop especially on the defensive side of the ball where they were ranked 115th in points allowed per game (34.7) last season.