Maryland Tries To Block 3 Players From Transferring To Vandy

February 14th, 2012 05:01 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Ole Miss, Vanderbilt
Tags: ACC, PR, Randy Edsall, Tennessee Derek Dooley

Maryland coach Randy Edsall is allowing three players to transfer from his program: quarterback Danny O’Brien, offensive lineman Max Garcia and linebacker Mario Rowson. Initial speculation focused on Vanderbilt — especially in the case of O’Brien — being a potential landing spot. But Edsall doesn’t want that to happen.

According to The Washington Post, the three players will not be cleared to transfer to Vandy, where former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin is quickly turning things around. Obviously, Vanderbilt is not in the ACC and the Commodores are not going to be on the Terrapins’ schedule anytime soon. So why the ban on Vandy? It’s likely Edsall believes Franklin has done some tampering.

Franklin was close to O’Brien and according to The Post, the coach and his then coach-in-waiting status were major reasons the signal-caller inked with Maryland. In cases like this, it’s not unusual for coaches to assume that word has gone back and forth between player and potential new coach with regards to opportunities and roster spots. Unfortunately for Edsall, coaches who drop stipulations on transferring players without providing a reason usually lose the ensuing PR battle. (He should call Tennessee’s Derek Dooley on that one.)

It’s possible that O’Brien can appeal the no-Vandy clause in his release. It’s also possible that he could enroll at Vandy as a graduate student – he’s set to graduate from Maryland this spring — without the benefit of a scholarship, but that would be quite pricey.

O’Brien is a native of North Carolina, but Edsall has ix-nayed ACC schools as options as well. Ole Miss is one of several other schools that have been mentioned as possible landing zone for O’Brien.

The quarterback threw for 1,648 yards, 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year in College Park.

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8 comments

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TonyStanley

1650 yards, 7TDs and 10 INTs? I would have stipulated that Vandy was the ONLY school this guy could transfer to.

Fayettechill14

Here's a question for any takers: what if Franklin HAS been tampering with O'Brien? He saw O'Brien go from ACC Freshman of the Year under his tutelage to an awful 2011 season. Not incriminating Franklin as this is purely hypothetical, but what should a head coach's reaction be when another coach is contacting his players? Is it then acceptable to ban the player from transferring out? A head coach cannot appear to look weak in that regard.

The same hypothetical could be placed on the Tennessee wide receiver. I opposed his transfer to Michigan/Michigan State after I read that he emailed ESPN, asking them to take a shot at Tennessee on his behalf, when in fact it was premature: Dooley nixed his transfer UNTIL he could meet with him face-to-face. It just sounded like a selfish, egotistical kid to me. Regardless of that, what if Michigan was tampering with him? What if Hoke had been contacting him, telling him the sky is falling at Tennessee? Does it make more sense to nix that transfer?

dee6634

Larry, it's perfectly clear that Vanderbilt has gotten in your head. Why's that?

sec_fan

Vanderbilt has proven they can put kids in the NFL (Jay Cutler, Earl Bennett et al). They also are a better potential for playing time than going to Alabama and playing behind 5 all stars. Playing time is more important than national championships, and if Vanderbilt stays committed to football 7-8 wins consistently is not out of the question. Having a great city, playing in the SEC, and getting a great education make Vanderbilt a good choice for some people. Having Vanderbilt as a strong team is good for the SEC. The better the games the better for television.

TonyStanley

@sec_fan 7-8 wins is out of the question @ Vandy. Pure and simple. They played UGA tough at home. They always do. But the fact is that they were 2 TDs down with a minute to play. That game got close because of poor UGA coaching, not because Vandy has developed into a SEC mid-power. And I remember Vanderbilt playing UF tough a few years ago in Gainesville. The next year they got their rear-ends handed to them.

They had a decent season in Nashville. Don't make more of it than that.

Larry

I'm sure that James Franklin will spin this by saying, "clearly everybody is scared of Vanderbilt football right now."

tradeassociation

If he does so, he is 100% correct. Schools like Vanderbilt, Baylor and Stanford are sleeping giants because there are a ton of great athletes out there who are familiar with, you know, statistics and stuff and as a result know that their chances of either A) winning a national title or B) having a long NFL career are small, so might as well go to the school that best maximizes their earning potential when their playing days are over. The problem is that these guys are such competitors that they just can't stomach spending 4 years playing for a perennial loser. BUT if you can consistently win 8 or 9 games a year at schools like that, then you'll have middle class background kids that are thinking about the future - ESPECIALLY the private school products - lining up. Another thing: in the Pac-12, ACC or Big 10, those private schools are just one of several nationally known elite universities: just about every Big 10 school is an AAU member, for instance. But in the SEC, there is Vanderbilt, then Florida, Texas A&M and Missouri (who are AAU members but don't have the national reputations of UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, Michigan, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia) but then who else is there? Even nationally, there is the milder weather than Northwestern, Notre Dame and some of the upper ACC schools, Stanford is too far away and too liberal for some kids, and there is benefit of playing in the SEC.

If Vanderbilt gets good, they could REALLY become a problem. Which is why a lot of folks DON'T want to see it happen in the SEC.

tradeassociation

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Homepage | MrSEC says:

February 15, 2012 at 1:48 pm

[...] we suggested that Edsall likely felt O’Brien in particular had contacted ex-Maryland offensive coordinator and c… about a move to Nashville’s West End. Now Edsall himself has opened up about the [...]

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