A Puzzle Of Many Pieces

The last scholarship in Miami's 1985 recruiting season had the name of all-Chicago high school defensive lineman Mel Agee on it. But on the morning of national letter-of-intent day, Agee told Hurricane assistant coach Hubbard Alexander that he had changed his mind and was signing with Illinois. The next unsigned defensive lineman on Alexander's list was the 6'1", 317-pound Maryland, whose best scholarship offer had come from Indiana State. Miami, however, needed a defensive lineman, and when Alexander called Johnson, who was Miami's coach at the time, to tell him he had lost Agee but had a quick-footed, heavy kid in reserve, Johnson barked, "Sign him."

Last week Maryland reflected on how remarkable it was that he was on his way to the Super Bowl, that he was a Mel Agee change of mind away from being part of this big dream. "If I hadn't signed with Miami, I wouldn't have gone to Indiana State, because it just wasn't for mc," said Maryland. "I'd have gone to Illinois, or some other school, and gotten a degree. Maybe I'd be flipping hamburgers right now, but I'd be successful at it. I bet I'd be manager right now. But there's no way I'd have been one of the guys playing for the number one defense in football, playing in the Super Bowl."

The Cowboys knew right away that Maryland would fit in with their selfless style of defense. Players selected in the draft can't report to their new teams until June 1. even if they sign on draft day in April, as Maryland had. At 6:15 a.m. on June 1, he had rapped on the front door of Cowboys Center in Irving, Texas, and a security guard had let him in. By the time the coaches got to work 45 minutes later, Maryland was already lifting weights. "I was just going to work," he says with a shrug.

That's a good motto for all the players on the Dallas defense.