"I want to recruit guys that embrace that competition. So, to me, it's an easy sell," said Maryland's new football coach DJ Durkin when asked about recruiting. (Kevin Richardson/Baltimore Sun video)
DJ Durkin played his entire junior season of high school football with a shredded ligament in his left knee — and didn't even know it until he went in for an unrelated surgery and the doctor told him.
"It had just disintegrated. But he kept playing, never went down," recalled Durkin's father, Daniel. "He's always been very driven."
The younger Durkin, officially introduced Thursday as the University of Maryland's new football coach, can't tell you exactly how he inherited his absurd energy or his obliviousness to difficulty.