Maryland football lands transfers Keandre Jones and Sean Savoy

Two former Maryland football targets decided to return home as former Ohio State linebacker Keandre Jones and former Virginia Tech wide receiver Sean Savoy transferred to the Terps, the university announced Tuesday.

Jones attended Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, where he earned a four-star rating and became the No. 4 ranked player in the state in the 2016 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.

Initially verbally pledging to Maryland in 2014, Jones ultimately decided to flip to Ohio State with fellow DMV product Dwayne Haskins after several members of the previous coaching staff were not retained — mainly now-head coach Mike Locksley, who served as Maryland’s offensive coordinator for three seasons before taking over as interim head coach for the final six games of the 2015 season.

In his three-year college career, Jones has accumulated 29 tackles while appearing in 32 games for the Buckeyes.

Savoy had College Park on his radar as a three-star recruit but stuck with Virginia Tech throughout the process, committing in 2016 and enrolling before the 2017 season. After being named a 2016 Washington Post First Team All-Met selection at Woodrow Wilson in Washington, D.C., Savoy found immediate success as a Hokie.

He tallied six touchdowns while producing 570 yards on offense as a freshman, but his production fell off in his sophomore season as he competed for playing time throughout the year, accounting for two touchdowns and 188 receiving yards.

Both Savoy and Jones will likely have to sit out a year before hitting the field in 2020. Savoy could be granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA, which would make him immediately eligible to play in 2019, due to Maryland’s proximity to his family and his brother’s death in October 2017.

Jones and Savoy are the first players to transfer to Maryland in the Locksley era and both bring much-needed depth and experience at key positions for the Terps.

The transfers come after an up-and-down weekend that saw three additions to the Terps’ 2019 class and two drops that were likely due to coaching staff changes.