Maryland Coach Mark Turgeon needed less than a week on the job to land his first recruit.
Fredericksburg Christian guard Seth Allen, who had never been to College Park before Saturday, arrived on campus around 1 p.m. and less than four hours later had given Turgeon his pledge to be a Terrapin.
“It was fun, we saw the campus, saw the gym, meet with the academic counselor and the strength and conditioning people,” Allen said. “I’m happy. I’m really happy. It’s a real relief. Now I can focus on school and work on my basketball rather than worry about my scholarship. Words can’t explain what I’m feeling right now.”
A 6-foot-1 junior who lives in Woodbridge and played for Hylton as a sophomore before transferring to Fredericksburg Christian, Allen averaged 24 points, four rebounds, four assists and 3.5 steals this past season, leading the Eagles to a 31-2 record.
Interestingly, when he got on campus, Allen met Turgeon’s former Texas A&M assistant Dustin Clark in a Comcast Center parking lot. Clark, also new in College Park, gave Allen one of his business cards from Texas A&M, putting a blue ‘X’ through the Texas A&M school logo.
Along with his family and a friend, Allen toured Comcast Center and rode around campus in a golf cart. He also met with assistant coach Bino Ranson, who is expected to be retained by Turgeon.
At the end of the visit, Allen and his family went back to Turgeon’s new office.
“I’m going to ask you a question, but I don’t want to put pressure on you,” Allen said Turgeon told him. “I want to offer you a scholarship. Will you be my first recruit at Maryland?”
“I said I would be happy to take it,” Allen said. “So I committed to Maryland.”
