Owings Mills (MD) ended a 53-game losing streak last season, finishing with a 3-7 mark overall. Head coach Steve Lurz hopes to build on last season’s efforts with a playoff appearance in 2010. Fortunately for the Eagles first year coach, he’ll return one of the state’s top prospects in 6-6, 260-pound offensive tackle/defensive tackle Donovan Smith .

“There is the size, but Donovan has balance and footwork,” said Lurz, who starts Smith on both sides of the line. “He has good quickness for his size. He has athletic feet. Most schools are recruiting him as a left tackle. He does a good job of staying in front of the pass rusher and sliding. With long arms, he can jab and keep defensive ends at bay.”

Following a 2008 season in which he suffered from a lingering elbow injury, Smith burst onto the scene in 2009. He turned in an excellent junior season and followed that up with a big splash on the combine circuit. As a result, he now totals nine official FBS scholarship offers.

“He got an invite to the Army All-American Bowl combine and performed really well down there,” Lurz said. “A week later, West Virginia spoke to him. West Virginia was the first school to offer. Then Ralph Friedgen came in and Maryland offered. He has nine total offers now. There is Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, Maryland, Connecticut, Rutgers, Penn State, West Virginia and Pitt.”

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