I-AA On the Rise? Franklin Helps Terps

Some good stuff in today's Post. Here's a story on the rise of I-AA football after Appalachian State's victory over Michigan. There's a section on whether the victory impacted recruiting for college football's second-tier schools. Some coaches say yes; Mike Farrell says no. Interesting debate. There's no question that locally many more I-AA schools are getting early commitments compared to past years, when players would wait until later in the recruiting calendar to accept a I-AA scholarship.

Then there is this read on new Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin. While it remains to be seen how Franklin's revamped offense fares on the field, the story doesn't hit one point that local high school coaches seem to agree on: Franklin's hiring is helping the Terrapins in recruiting circles. I know Franklin is trying to make up a lot of ground recruiting locally, but getting all the top kids to stay close to home won't happen overnight.