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The Maryland Terrapins are continuing to get attention from high level recruits and Raiquan Gray is another top level talent with the Terps in his sights. The 6'8", 240 lb. forward announced the top six schools on his list Monday and the names included Baylor, Virginia Tech Memphis, Ole Miss, Florida State, and Maryland. Gray, who is listed as a four star recruit by ESPN and a three star recruit by 247sports, started off with almost 30 offers which were then narrowed to 13 a few weeks ago (a list which had included another Big Ten team in Illinois).
Thank you to the 30+ schools that made me a priority in this recruitment process but I have came to my final 6 ❗️ pic.twitter.com/QFWGWyMBAi
— RaiQuan Gray (@Tgray4) August 2, 2016
247sports has the forward out of Ft. Lauderdale as the 118th ranked recruit and the 27th ranked forward in the 2017 class. Gray is an athletic big and quite versatile with his smooth shooting stroke and ability to get by defenders with the solid ball-handling skills he possesses for his size. Gray also runs the floor well and seems to have good vision for a forward. The guys over at Inside Maryland Sports believe this skill set to be similar to former Maryland forward Robert Carter.
Speaking of the Terps, head coach Mark Turgeon and company could use an athlete like Gray to fill the role of the versatile forward that Carter played. Gray could possibly even play the three, allowing Maryland to play big against their opponents. Right now, Baylor looks to be the favorite to land the Florida native, but it is a very good sign for the future of Maryland basketball to have the program on the final lists of the country's top talent.
Maryland is continuing its momentum of getting high interest from highly ranked players, which is key when trying to keep a program from down and rebuilding years. The Terrapins are getting play with a number of big recruits, including five star forwards Jaren Jackson and Billy Preston as well as four star center Nate Watson. It is especially important to be major players on the recruiting trail when you have seasons like the one upcoming where the Terps are replacing four out of five starters who were major contributors to a title contender. The Terps have a top 20 recruiting class for 2016 according to both ESPN and 247sports and this kind of recruiting success is what will keep Maryland as title contenders every year.