Adam McLean is determined to brighten the future of the Terrapins football team. And he knows it’ll take more than his own presence to do that.

McLean, a local four-star defensive tackle who recently de-committed from Penn State, verbally committed to the Terps on Dec. 4.

And the senior at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg already is doing his own recruiting in an effort to improve the Terps’ 2015 recruiting class.

“I’m going to be looking to see where and how I can contribute on the defense,” he said. “And looking for guys I can recruit to help me out and us as a whole.”

After shifting his commitment from the Nittany Lions to the Terps and urging other local players to follow him to College Park, McLean has developed his share of critics.

McLean doesn’t mind, though. He said it took him seven months of being committed to Penn State to realize he wanted to represent his home state.

“When you walk out there with that Maryland jersey on, it means a lot more than just wearing a uniform,” McLean said. “This is where you’ve grown. It runs deeper in your blood.”

Offensive guard and Washington native Quarvez Boulware is one of the players whom McLean is lobbying to come to this university. Another is defensive end Byron Cowart, the No. 2 prospect in the nation.

“Before I committed to Maryland, I explained to [Cowart] about the opportunity up there,” McLean said. “And me pulling the trigger on Maryland kind of opened his eyes. I’ve been talking to him every other day or so, trying to sway him one way or the other.”

McLean already has helped lure his close friend Keandre Jones, a junior linebacker at Good Counsel in Olney, to College Park for the class of 2016 with a phone call on Thanksgiving.

After Jones’ commitment, several top-300 junior players, including the No. 2 quarterback prospect in the country, the Bullis School’s Dwayne Haskins, went on social media to weigh in on the wave of commitments to the Terps.

Four-star junior wide receiver Trevon Diggs, from the Avalon School in Rockville, also noticed the Terps’ latest commits.

McLean is the only four-star recruit out of 17 in the Terps’ class of 2015. But he seems to have the same philosophy as Terps quarterback C.J. Brown when it comes to stars and rankings.

“[It means] nothing at all,” McLean said. “It’s about work ethic and what you do and how hard you work to earn your stripes. We may not have guys with the highest rank, but we’ve got guys that can play football.”