A chance (and need) to start anew

Today marks one of the most overhyped, over-covered and, well, overrated days on the college football calendar: national signing day. ESPN dedicates hour upon hour of coverage to the decisions of the nation's top high school players, who call their own press conference before putting on a baseball cap to announce where they will play their college ball as fans follow along breathlessly.

Color me not interested. Most of these players won't see the field anytime soon. Some of them won't even sign with their schools today, leaving open the possibility that they'll end up somewhere else. Wake me up when these kids actually do something noteworthy in a college game.

Randy Edsall, however, has a little more reason to be interested today. Recruiting is always important for a football program. After the Terrapins football team's catastrophic 2011 season — both on and off the field — the next generation has become that much more crucial. It might offer the only way Edsall can right the ship. (Right now, this ship is looking an awful lot like the Titanic.)

Two facts became abundantly clear in 2011: First, the Terps lacked the talent necessary to go "from good to great." Making matters worse, they also lacked cohesion with their coach's rigid mantra, creating a toxic environment that led to a mass exodus of players — some of whom were pretty damn talented.

Both of these things need to change, and fast. Even with Edsall's remade coaching staff, there is a very, very bad taste in everyone's mouth when it comes to Terps football, and Edsall hasn't done much to help himself. Check Facebook, Twitter or anywhere. People aren't exactly thrilled with the job he's doing.

So what can Edsall do to calm the masses? Most importantly, he needs to win games, but he can't do that until the fall. For now, he needs to find talented players who are willing to play for him.

With the hire of offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, Edsall might just be able to do that. The former New Mexico coach is a recruiting whiz. His impact during the month-plus he's been back on the trail has reportedly been immense, and he's apparently been imperative in the courting of five-star Good Counsel wide receiver Stefon Diggs, ESPN's 13th-ranked player.

Locksley also helped deliver the player who might be the crown jewel of the recruiting haul so far: Good Counsel running back Wes Brown. Considering the departure of D.J. Adams, he'll likely come in handy.

Edsall — and the athletics department as a whole, for that matter — had better hope Locksley is as good a recruiter as they think he is. It's his recruiting skills, after all, that most likely appealed to Edsall when he hired him. If he doesn't deliver, it will be another wasted contract.

But give credit where it's due. Despite a 2-10 season and a divided locker room, Edsall has reeled in the No. 6 recruiting class in the ACC, according to Rivals.com, and the 40th-best in the nation. With all the negativity surrounding the program last season, it's surprising that Edsall and Co. were able to pull anything at all out of the wreckage.

That's good for right now, but it needs to be better in the future. Another mediocre year on the field will only make the calls for Edsall's job louder. If Locksley can't make inroads with the local talent, he will have failed. We knew that when Edsall took over for Ralph Friedgen, he had a locker room full of players who didn't sign up to play for him.

Today, he can start to change that.

schneider@umdbk.com