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CHICAGO — It may not have been viewed as a rivalry last season. Randy Edsall hopes that things might be different this fall when Maryland and Penn State meet.
Penn State hadn’t yet arrived at Big Ten media days, but the Nittany Lions were still a topic of conversation on Thursday, mentioned in detail by the Terrapins coach.
Edsall, a Pennsylvania native, said he had seen an uptick in recruiting in the past year as a result of joining the Big Ten and also scoring a rare win over the Lions in 2014.
Indeed, Edsall had a host of numbers off the top of his head about Penn State’s historical dominance in the series — figures that were undoubtedly repeated to his players before the 20-19 win at Beaver Stadium.
“When you’re 1-35-1 against a program that you played consistently through the ’60s, the ’70s, the ’80s and those eras — to be able to go and beat them in Happy Valley for the first time and also the first time since 1961 — I think it showed kids in our area that we can compete with them and we can win,” Edsall said. “And I think kids look at that. High school kids look at that.
“And Penn State has always had a niche for being able to come down to Maryland and take players up there. And that’s one of the things that we knew if we wanted to get some recruits, we’d have to beat them on the field.”
Maryland and D.C. have been increasingly fertile recruiting grounds for the Lions through the past decade with coach James Franklin — the Terps’ one-time head coach in waiting — picking up where former Penn State assistant Larry Johnson left off in the state.
For the 2016 recruiting cycle, Penn State had four verbal commitments from Maryland, headlined by the state’s top overall player in defensive end Shane Simmons. The Lions also have pledges from DT Ellison Jordan, LB/DE Cameron Brown and DB Zechariah McPhearson.
Simmons and Jordan had scholarship offers from the Terps. Two Maryland commitments from the state, top quarterback Dwayne Haskins and linebacker Keandre Jones, held offers from Penn State.
Throw in the infamous handshake snub by Terps captains before last year’s meeting with the Lions, and tempers should continue to rise headed into the 2015 game in Baltimore.
“I think with the proximity between the two schools, you hope that that can develop into a rivalry because I think those things are good,” Edsall said. “But again, those things do take time. But the only way that you can create a rival is by beating teams on the field. And that’s what we know we have to do.”
Beckman under fire
Penn State was also mentioned by embattled Illinois coach Tim Beckman, who referenced late November wins over the Lions and Northwestern as a building block for his program.
In all likelihood, those two wins — which landed the Illini a bowl bid — saved Beckman’s job.
But things haven’t gotten any easier for him in the offseason.
Beckman has been accused of mistreatment by former players, prompting a school investigation into the matter. Understandably, those allegations made up the bulk of the questions Beckman heard on Thursday, but the fourth-year Illini boss wasn’t interested in addressing them.
“I’ve been around football for 50 years of my life,” he began his first answer before reverting to, “We’re focused on the 2015 football team.”
Asked about his tenuous contract situation, Beckman said he was only concerned about training camp and the Illini’s opener against Kent State.
“We all understand it’s necessary to win, but we’ve improved every year,” Beckman said.
In the polls
Penn State debuted 10 deep into the “others receiving votes” category in the preseason Coaches Poll.
Ohio State topped the chart at No. 1, followed by Michigan State at No. 6 and Wisconsin at No. 18. Nebraska and Minnesota were just ahead of the Lions in votes outside of the top 25.
Though the Big Ten no longer puts out a preseason poll of its own before the season, Cleveland.com recently conducted one among media members that put Penn State third in the East Division for 2015.
The Big Ten named Lions defensive tackle Anthony Zettel as one of its 11 “Players to Watch” on Thursday.
Zettel will be in Chicago for media days on Friday along with Franklin and fellow seniors Jordan Lucas and Angelo Mangiro.