By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 2, 2006 1:39 AM

While things are heating up for rising senior football players, at least one rising junior from the Washington area already has a spot on the recruiting landscape.

Joined by Forestville Coach Charles Harley and his father, Forestville wide receiver Kevin Chapman visited College Park to meet with Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen this past Friday and left with a scholarship offer to ponder over Memorial Day weekend.

"Man, they're getting earlier and earlier these days," Harley said after leaving the meeting. "Friedgen was a little more animated than normal. They did a good sell."

Harley and many Maryland fans won't soon forget the last time the Terrapins made such an early offer to a Forestville player. That debacle ended in a firestorm this past February when offensive lineman Antonio Logan-El reneged on a commitment to Maryland and instead signed with Penn State.

Harley wants to avoid a repeat and said he has advised Chapman not to act too soon. Nothing against Maryland, Harley said, "but as I told [Chapman], 'What are you going to do when Pete Carroll is in your living room or my man [Frank Beamer] at Virginia Tech, which is only four hours away?' See a few places. But if you commit, I'm not allowing you to open it back up.' "

Chapman, who is 6 feet 2 and 175 pounds, played on the varsity as a freshman and moved to quarterback this past season because the Knights were lacking at the position. He will go back to wide receiver this fall.

"He's so put together," Harley said. "He's engaging. He works out hard. He's such a competitor. Ohio State saw him at the NFL [high school player development] camp and wanted to bring in its head coach [Jim Tressel] to offer him. He's got strong character and is a good kid and then he's a supreme athlete and he works harder than probably 95 percent of kids out there."

Chapman also holds offers from Marshall and Connecticut.

Harley reported that linebacker Devonte Campbell, a rising senior, recently picked up scholarship offers from Virginia Tech and Louisville. "Maryland has a good shot" with Campbell, Harley said.

The group of rising seniors from Prince William County promises to be one of that area's best and Osbourn Park linebacker Quillie Odom this week became from that area to make a commitment, announcing he plans to attend Virginia Tech.

"That's always been one of his choices," Osbourn Park Coach Brian Beaty said. "It's not something we had talked about in detail. I did ask him after the fact, was it one of his top three schools and obviously it was. Look at Virginia Tech and what they've done and how they've competed and they're definitely one of the top schools around here."

Beaty said Maryland, West Virginia, Marshall, Syracuse and Marshall were among the other schools that had been recruiting Odom, who is 6-2 and 205 pounds.

Other top players from the county include Osbourn quarterback Brandon Hogan, Hylton lineman William Alvarez and Gar-Field running back Savion Frazier -- all of whom hold several scholarship offers.

"We've got some talented kids," Beaty said. "I've been coaching in Prince William County for 21 years and I've always felt we've had some pretty good kids who could play at the next level. It sounds like [this year] is going to be" a good one.