It's not much of a secret in local recruiting circles. Almost nobody works the Washington area as hard as Connecticut when it comes to high school football recruiting.
"That's an area that is important to us," Connecticut Coach Randy Edsall said.
In their first season as a member of Big East Conference football, the Huskies have a roster includes eight Marylanders and two Virginians. Although running back Terry Caulley (The Post's All-Met offensive player of the year at Patuxent High in 2001) will miss this season because of a knee injury, the Huskies still rely heavily on Washington area players; center Billy Irwin (Robinson), free safety M.J. Estep (Chopticon) and cornerback Ernest Cole (DeMatha) are all starters.
Connecticut seems likely to continue relying on Washington area players. They already have verbal commitments for next season from four Maryland high school seniors: C.H. Flowers defensive back Jimmy McClam, Middletown defensive lineman Andrew Presnell, Loyola (Balt.) linebacker Brady Smith and Hereford offensive lineman Joe Akers. And Edsall said he would like to make inroads across the Potomac as well.
Although DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor said he thinks Connecticut has always recruited the Washington area, Edsall believes his staff got a boost when he hired longtime Maryland high school coach Jerry Franks as an assistant in March 2001.
"Jerry got us into that area," Edsall said. "In all my experience, there were always good athletes in the Maryland-Washington area. Maybe it got overlooked a little bit, but if you went in and worked and uncovered the rocks and went someplace where other places didn't go, you could find some good players."
Franks left Connecticut in August 2002 and now is the head coach at Huntingtown High in Calvert County. But the Huskies' local efforts have not changed since Franks was replaced by Rob Ambrose, the former Towson University assistant and Catholic University head coach. Ambrose's father, Tim, is entering his 31st season at the coach at Middletown High in Frederick County.
"I wanted to hire the best coach, plus he's a very good recruiter and he's from that area," Edsall said. "So it was just a natural fit for us."
Why do players want to go to Connecticut? The chance to play in the Big East in a new stadium and with new training facilities planned. And with the Huskies moving up from Division I-AA, there are opportunities to play sooner than at other established programs. It remains to be seen if losing Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College to the Atlantic Coast Conference will relegate the Big East to a lower level of football, though Edsall thinks the change in membership has a benefit, too.
"Right now, our road to get to a BCS [bowl] game could be a lot easier than some people in the ACC," Edsall said. "It's exposure. We're also here in Connecticut and ESPN is 40 minutes down the road from us. We're the only show in the whole state."
Whitaker: Waiting
Northwest running back Tony Nelson and wide receiver Darren Brownlee made unofficial commitments before the season to Clemson and West Virginia, respectively. The Jaguars quarterback, Ike Whitaker, has held off on making a decision and Coach Randy Trivers does not foresee his standout choosing a college in the near future.
"I would like to say he has [narrowed down his choices], but I don't know," Trivers said. "I really thought at one point he was close [to making a decision]. He was talking, 'Coach, maybe I want to decide before the season.' But that time has come and gone."
Whitaker, with scholarship offers from 25 schools, often talks about Clemson, Maryland, West Virginia, Florida and Virginia Tech, Trivers said.
"If you're like [Eleanor Roosevelt standout Derrick Williams] or Ike, where you have so many offers, it's not as urgent to [commit] early just because you have so many options," Trivers said. "Whereas if you're a guy with two or three Division I offers, you can wait and see if you'll get any more down the road, which you might, or if you have an offer someplace you like, maybe you commit."
