BALTIMORE _ When newly hired football coach Bobby Ross asked him to be Maryland's offensive coordinator in 1982, Ralph Friedgen wanted to know more about the team's quarterbacks before accepting the job. He called Jerry Claiborne, who had just left the Terps after 10 seasons to coach Kentucky.
"He said, 'We only have one quarterback that has a chance (to be any good), and that's Stan Gelbaugh,' " recalled Friedgen, who was then Frank Beamer's offensive coordinator at Murray State. "I go out on the first day of spring practice and I thought, 'Oh my god, we've got three guys that can play.' "
Claiborne failed to mention the team's returning starter, junior Boomer Esiason, and sophomore Frank Reich. Along with Gelbaugh, a promising freshman at the time, they helped the Terps win three straight Atlantic Coast Conference titles (1983-85) and start more than two decades of strong quarterback play.
But in the eight seasons since Friedgen was fired following a 9-4 record in 2010 _ helped by an unexpectedly strong performance by Danny O'Brien, who was named ACC Freshman of the Year _ the play of Maryland's quarterbacks has been spotty at best.
It's why Locksley knew that improving the level of talent in the quarterback room was a priority after being named coach of the Terps last December.
"I knew it had to get to this point, which is why we put a lot of energy and effort into recruiting," Locksley said after practice Tuesday night.
Though unsuccessful in enticing Jalen Hurts to join him after the former Alabama quarterback visited College Park before choosing Oklahoma, Locksley brought in Virginia Tech graduate transfer Josh Jackson and signed four-star prospect Lance LeGendre.
Locklsey also saw improvement from redshirt sophomore Tyler DeSue in the spring and redshirt junior Tyrrell Pigrome in preseason camp this month.
"The grad transfer market we were heavily involved in, and were fortunate to be able to bring in Josh," Locksley said. "The high school market, a guy like Lance was still out there that we were able to (sign) because of previous relationships. It was huge. And Piggy's development, I think to me that has probably been the biggest storyline of camp."
That is also why Locksley's most important decision to date will be naming his starter for Maryland's Aug. 31 opener against Howard. It appears that Jackson, who was among the top freshmen quarterbacks in the country two years ago with the Hokies, will win the No. 1 job, though Pigrome has made a strong push in recent weeks and could supplant him.
If Locksley learned anything in his three years at Alabama, it's not to go into preseason camp with any preconceived notions about who the starter should be.
"I think our players understand this and we find this out pretty quickly _ you're judged by what you do today and what you do now," Locksley said Tuesday. "Competition is always going to be there. We're going to always recruit the best players we can possibly recruit every year.
"For a guy who feels like he's established, everybody should have a little bit of competition and I think it's been really healthy. I think it's what's pushed and improved Piggy. Again he's probably one of the guys that's benefited most from bringing in the competition because he's really risen to the occasion."
Locksley said in the spring that much of his offensive philosophy is derived from the time he spent as a member of Friedgen's staff, serving as running backs coach and eventually recruiting coordinator from 1997 to 2002.
"It starts first and foremost with what your quarterback is capable of doing," Locksley said. "If I have a quarterback that's not a great thrower, I would not be very smart as a coach to incorporate a whole bunch of passing concepts until I develop him in that area because our goal is to develop our quarterbacks to be able to do both (pass and run), obviously."
Friedgen said that how a quarterback transitions from high school to college _ or from one college team to another, in Jackson's case _ is among the most difficult things for coaches to project.
"In recruiting quarterbacks, it's more than just evaluating their physical talents," Friedgen said. "You can get a guy who can throw the ball, he can be pretty accurate, might be mobile. But if he can't read defenses or he can't handle the playbook, it doesn't matter how talented he is because he can't function.
"I always thought your quarterback had to be one of your tougher kids. Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. He's got to be able to take a hit and get up and he's got 10 other (pairs of) eyes on him to show he's one of the boys, he's going to play. And he's been able to handle the criticism, and some can't handle that."
