STINEBAUGH SEES HIMSELF AS A TERP

"I watched the Terps come out swinging early, running a lot of spread offense," said Perry Hall's Dave Stinebaugh, who watched Maryland's victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday at Byrd Stadium. "Seeing this type of spread offense...helped me to see myself in their offensive scheme."



by Lem Satterfield

The University of Maryland's recruting of Perry Hall's Dave Stinebaugh, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound tight end-linebacker-defensive end prospect, heated up over the weekend, the junior told DigitalSports.

"Maryland came to my school on the Friday, Oct. 5 and we sat down and had a talk," said Stinebaugh, whose Gators are 4-1 overall, and 3-1 in as three-time defending Baltimore County 4A-3A League champs.

"Coach [Phil] Zacharias came in and we sat down and talked about how school was going and how the season was going," Stinebaugh said. "Some of the things that he asked was what kind of classes I'm in and I told him my schedule."

Stinebaugh appears to be in good shape, academically, with a high, B-average. Stinebaugh is taking honors physics, honors college algebra, honors U.S. history, honors English 11 and honors trigonometry honors.

"The coach asked if I had taken the SATs or the ACTs, and I told him I was planning on taking them later in the year," Stinebaugh said. "They told me that the sooner I get those tests out of the way, the more types of things we can do."

The Terps' representative "stayed for our homecoming game later on that night," said Stinebaugh, who, in a 35-7 rout of Dulaney, "had about five or six tackles for lost yardage, and about 60-or-70 receiving yards. As I talked to him the next day, he told me he was impressed with my blocking and
receiving."

Stinebaugh has several traits that are rarely found in combination within one player: Unelfishness, versatility, athleticism and play-making abilities.

Physically, he stands to get bigger, with a wide frame, to "maybe be about 215 or 220 pounds," by his senior season, Stinebaugh said. "I just have to hit the gym real hard.  As much as you do on the field, the real progress is made off the field, during the offseason."

Stinebaugh, who also has three sacks as an outside linebacker for the Gators, said Zacharias viewed him more as "an athletic tight end, where I can be split out side and cause favorable match ups like the ones he saw on Friday night."

"I drew double teams for the whole night," Stinebaugh said. "Coach Zacharias told me that I remind him alot of [the Terps] tight end, Joe Hanos."

On Saturday, Stinebaugh attended the Terps' 28-26 victory over visiting ACC rival Georgia Tech, another school that has shown interest in Stinebaugh along with Syracuse, UCONN, Duke, West Virginia and Clemson.

"As I watched the Terps come out swinging early, running a lot of spread offense, that was very good to see," Stinebaugh said.

"Maryland showed how it used there tight ends out of a lot of empty sets and spread-type sets," Stinebaugh said. "Seeing this type of spread offense from them definitely helped me to see myself a lot more in their offensive scheme."

Stinebaugh said he spent the summer working out, his agility drills getting his "40-time down to 4.6 seconds." Mentally, Stinebaugh is a heady player with great field vision.

Stinebaugh, last year, had five each in sacks and interceptions as well as 42 tackles while splitting time at weakside and middle linebacker.

Offensively, Stinebaugh was among the primary targets for graduated All-Metro Jason Mattison, a quarterback-defensive back, with 800 receiving yards while splitting time at tight end and wide receiver. Stinebaugh scored 14 touchdowns.

Stinebaugh didn't take long to assert himself as a leader this season.

In fact, in his very first game, a 21-14 victory at Baltimore private school, St. Paul's, of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association's B Conference, Stinebaugh made an immediate impact.

Stinebaught caught first-half scoring passes of 20, 20 and 60 yards for a 21-0 lead against St. Paul's despite playing the first game of his career on an artificial surface.

Over the Gators next couple of games against Woodlawn and Dulaney, Stinebaugh combined for nearly 200 receiving yards from first-year starting QB Mike Lang.

But Stinebaugh's best game might have been on Sept. 29, when his Gators lost, 28-25, to county rival Hereford in a battle of unbeaten teams.

In that game, Stinebaugh ran a 22-yard reverse for a TD; threw an option pass that was nearly successful in the endzone; made a 37-yard, finger-tip scoring reception of a pass while in triple coverage; and hauled in a two-point conversion pass.