COLLEGE PARK, Md. - With 30 seniors gone from last year's team, the Maryland football program had holes to fill on both sides of the ball.

Head coach Ralph Friedgen and his staff addressed those needs by landing a nationally-ranked recruiting class Wednesday. The Terps signed 24 student-athletes to national letters-of-intent.

The class, ranked No. 26 nationally by Rivals.com (highest since 2005) and 27th by Scout.com, is highlighted by four All-Americans, 21 student-athletes ranked among the top 100 nationally at their respective position and 12 who received all-state honors during their career.

Six of the signees were also labeled four-star recruits by Rivals.com and/or Scout.com.

Once again the Terps kept quite a bit of talent at home as 13 members of the class hail from the Maryland/Washington, D.C. footprint. They also plucked three players from Virginia, as well as two each from Georgia, including star running back D.J. Adams (Norcross, Ga.), and South Carolina.

"This class fills a lot of our needs at linebacker, as well as along the offensive and defensive lines," Friedgen said. "I think we put together a very big, strong and powerful recruiting class"

DL De'Onte Arnett (Capitol Heights, Md.) DB Travis Hawkins (Gaithersburg, Md.), LB David Mackall (Baltimore, Md.), RB Caleb Porzel (Olney, Md.) and OL Pete White (Washington, D.C.) were each SuperPrep All-Americans and labeled four-star recruits by Rivals.com and/or Scout.com. Adams, a member of the ESPNU 150, was tabbed a four-star prospect by Rivals.

Adams, Arnett, Hawkins and Mackall were also four signees to appear on an all-state team during their career.

Others earning all-state honors included DL Justin Anderson (Blythewood, S.C.), QB C.J. Brown (Cranberry, Twp., Pa.), LB Ryan Donohue (Montvale, N.J.), PK/P Nick Ferrara (Hicksville, N.Y.), DB Eric Franklin (Baltimore, Md.), OL Bennett Fulper (Gretna, Va.), LB Avery Murray (Florence, S.C.) and TE Dave Stinebaugh (Baltimore, Md.)

Of the 21 signees ranking in the top 100 at their positions by various outlets, eight were ranked among the top 25.

According to Scout.com, Adams is No. 16 nationally among running backs and Hawkins is the 12th-best cornerback. Rivals.com has Porzel pegged as the No. 15 all-purpose back in the nation and White as the No. 5 offensive guard in the land.

The signees hail from eight states, including Maryland/Washington D.C. (13), Virginia (3), Georgia (2), South Carolina (2), North Carolina (1), New York (1), New Jersey (1) and Pennsylvania (1).

As a team, the Terps rank high nationally among their peers at three positions. Scout.com has Maryland's linebacker crop ranked tied for No. 7 in the country, while Rivals.com has it No. 9. The Terps running back class is not large in numbers, but Adams and Porzel comprise the 12th-best class according to Scout.com and 14th-best class by Rivals.com. The defensive-end class is No. 10 according to Rivals.

According to Rivals.com, the Terps hauled in four of the top 10 players in the state of Maryland in Arnett (No. 2), Hawkins (No. 5), Mackall (No. 9) and Porzel (No. 10), and two of the top three players in Washington, D.C. with the addition of White (No. 1) and Drakeford (No. 3).

Two players not included among the 2009 signees are Cody Blue and Zachariah Kerr who each signed with the Terps last year and attended Fork Union Military Academy in the fall. They enrolled in classes last month as did Arnett, Drakeford and Murray. All five will be eligible for spring ball and have four years of eligibility remaining beginning in the fall.

This year's class marked the largest for the Terps since 2007 when Maryland signed 25 student-athletes.

Note: Release updated Feb. 5 (national rankings of class by Rivals.com and Scout.com dropped by one spot after the initial posting)

Recruiting Class Breakdown

BY STATE

VIRGINIA (3)
Bennett Fulper (Gretna)
Bradley Johnson (Amelia)
Dexter McDougle (Falmouth)

GEORGIA (2)
D.J. Adams (Norcross)
Nick Klemm (Marietta)

SOUTH CAROLINA (2)
Justin Anderson (Blythewood)
Avery Murray (Florence)

NORTH CAROLINA (1)
Danny O'Brien (Kernersville)

NEW JERSEY (1)
Ryan Donohue (Montvale)

NEW YORK (1)
Nick Ferrara (Hicksville)

PENNSYLVANIA (1)
C.J. Brown (Cranberry Twp.)

Individual Honors

ALL-AMERICA HONOREES (4)
De'Onte Arnett (SuperPrep)
Travis Hawkins (SuperPrep)
Caleb Porzel (SuperPrep)
Pete White (SuperPrep)

ALL-STATE HONOREES (12)
D.J. Adams (Ga. - first team)
Justin Anderson (S.C. - third team)
De'Onte Arnett (Md. - first team)
C.J. Brown (Pa. - first team)
Ryan Donohue (N.J. - first team)
Nick Ferrara (N.Y.- first team)
Eric Franklin (Md. - first team)
Bennett Fulper (Va. - first team)
Travis Hawkins (Md. - first team)
David Mackall (Md. - first team)
Avery Murray (S.C. - first team)
Dave Stinebaugh (Md. - first team)

RECRUIT RANKINGS

• D. J. Adams (No. 16 RB by Scouts, Inc.; No. 29 RB by Rivals.com; No. 22 player in Georgia by Scout.com; No. 51 in SuperPrep's Dixie 287)
• Justin Anderson (No. 60 strongside DE by Rivals.com; No. 80 DE by Scouts.com)
• De'Onte Arnett (No. 6 strongside DE by Rivals.com; No. 3 DE against run and No. 5 strongest DE by Rivals.com; No. 93 on Rivals.com's top 100 players from 2009 class)
• C.J Brown (No. 17 dual-threat QB by Rivals.com; No. 35 QB by Scouts, Inc.; No. 67 QB by Scout.com; member of Rivals.com 2008 Pennsylvania Postseason Top 40)
• Pete DeSouza (No. 60 OT by Rivals.com; No. 64 OT by Scout.com; No. 124 OL by Scouts, Inc.)
• Ryan Donohue (No. 66 ILB by Scout.com; No. 75 ILB by Rivals.com; No. 25 player in New Jersey by Rivals.com)
• Darin Drakeford (No. 41 OLB by Scouts, Inc.; No. 41 weakside LB by Scout.com; No. 77 OLB by Rivals.com)
• Nick Ferrara (No. 28 PK by Scouts, Inc.; named to the Special Teams Solutions Elite Class of 2009)
• Lorne Goree (No. 35 weakside LB by Scout.com; No. 47 OLB by Rivals.com; No. 92 OLB by Scouts, Inc.)
• Avery Graham (No. 69 cornerback by Rivals.com; No. 116 safety by Scouts, Inc.)
• Travis Hawkins (No. 12 CB by Scout.com; No. 5 player in Maryland and No. 22 CB by Rivals.com; No. 9 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54; No. 196 in the Rivals.com 250)
• Bradley Johnson (No. 21 played in Virginia and No. 22 OLB by Rivals.com; No. 35 in SuperPrep's Virginia 50; No. 56 weakside LB by Scout.com)
• David Mackall (No. 9 player in Maryland and No. 15 strongside DE by Rivals.com; No. 24 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54; No. 83 DE by Scout.com)
• Dexter McDougle (No. 63 S by Scout.com; No. 76 athlete by Rivals.com)
• Avery Murray (No. 42 weakside LB by Scout.com; No. 53 OLB by Scouts, Inc.; member of SuperPrep South Carolina Top 46)
• Danny O'Brien (No. 35 player in North Carolina and No. 36 pro-style QB by Rivals.com; No. 58 QB by Scout.com)
• Caleb Porzel (No. 10 player in Maryland and No. 15 all-purpose RB by Rivals.com; No.14 RB by Scout.com; No. 5 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54)
• Isaiah Ross (No. 67 ILB by Rivals.com; No. 76 MLB by Scout.com; No. 30 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54)
• Dave Stinebaugh (No. 57 TE by Scout.com; No. 67 athlete by Rivals.com; No. 36 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54)
• Marcus Whitfield (No. 63 strongside LB by Scout.com; No. 89 OLB by Rivals.com; No. 39 in SuperPrep's Mid-Atlantic 54)
• Pete White (No. 5 OG by Scout.com; No. 13 G by Rivals.com; No. 22 OG by Scouts, Inc.; No. 1 on Rivals.com's District of Columbia Postseason Top 5)

TEAM HONORS

• Recruiting Class (No. 26 by Rivals.com)
• Recruiting Class (No. 27 by Scout.com)
• Linebackers (No. 9 by Rivals.com)
• Running Backs (No. 14 by Rivals.com)
• Defensive Ends (tied for No. 10 by Rivals.com)

BY POSITION

OFFENSE (9)

Running Back (2)
D.J. Adams
Caleb Porzel

Offensive Linemen (4)
Pete DeSouza
Bennett Fulper
Nick Klemm
Pete White

Quarterback (2)
C.J. Brown
Danny O'Brien

Tight End (1)
Dave Stinebaugh

DEFENSE (14)

Defensive Linemen (2)
Justin Anderson
De'Onte Arnett

Linebacker (8)
Ryan Donohue
Darin Drakeford
Lorne Goree
Bradley Johnson
David Mackall
Avery Murray
Isaiah Ross
Marcus Whitfield

Defensive Back (4)
Eric Franklin
Avery Graham
Travis Hawkins
Dexter McDougle

SPECIALISTS (1)

Place-kicker/Punter (1)
Nick Ferrara