The only thing Jordan Williams was sweating this summer was, well, sweat. Williams, Maryland's touted incoming big man, said reports that he might not qualify per NCAA academic standards were false, and there was never a concern about qualifying.

He was recently passed by the NCAA Clearinghouse, a typical delay resulting from a couple of online courses he'd taken. But as InsideMDSports.com reported in the late spring, Williams' grades and SAT scores were enough to virtually guarantee he'd qualify.

"Of course, people are always going to talk, but I'd sat down with the coaching staff a while ago and they'd told me I was fine. I wasn't sweating it at all," said Williams, the 6-foot-9, 270-pound power forward-center from Torrington, Conn., who is expected to man the middle for the Terps for several years to come.

Williams recently completed a four-week stint in College Park spent participating in the STEP program, which helps incoming Maryland freshmen -- including many athletes -- get an early start on adjusting to college life academically. While in town, he worked out with future teammates and strength coaches at 7 a.m every day and spent his evenings playing pick-up ball at Comcast with the rest of the team.

He also came away from the experienced fully bonded with James Padgett, the other of Maryland's two incoming big men recruits.

"It was a lot of fun. I got a chance to hang every day with James. We talk every day and he's one of my closest friends," Williams said of Padgett, with whom he'll live at Maryland.

"We're both like big kids. We both joke around a lot. On the court, he's probably a little bit more athletic than me, a little more bouncy, and I'm maybe a little more of a scorer and more of a banger," he said.

Williams, who chose Maryland over offers from UConn, Arizona, Marquette, Xavier, Georgetown, St. John's and many others, enjoyed playing with future teammates like Greivis Vasquez, past Terps such as Byron Mouton and even 'And 1' tour pros 'White Chocolate' and 'Alimoe.'

But he wasn't overwhelmed, he said, despite the enormous disparity in the competition level between high school basketball in suburban Connecticut and pick-up games against ACC players.

"When I play against better competition, I tend to play better, so it wasn't shocking but it was nice to get a good run every day," he said.

Along with the 6-8 Padgett (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Williams, who averaged 28 points and 16 rebounds per game as a high school senior, is expected to immediately help solidify a Maryland frontcourt in serious need of reinforcements; last year, with 6-6 David Neal as their primary frontcourt player, the Terps were last in the ACC in rebounding margin.

He's expecting to make an immediate impact, and apparently his teammates expect the same of him.

"Like they said when they recruited me, they need size in the middle. Greivis Vasquez  was telling us, we don't have to be [stars] but if we can give 10 and 10 or maybe 20 points here and there, we're going to be really good," he said.

"With us in the middle, people can't just keep their eyes on Greivis. They're not going to ignore us. Even it it's all eyes on Greivis, that will just be more room for me and James to work in the middle."

Years ago, no one would have recognized Williams and Padgett during their first few weeks in College Park except for assumptions they must be new basketball players because of their obvious height. With the proliferation of recruiting coverage, though, that's the case no longer.

"James and I went to a Baltimore Orioles game and people were coming up and talking to us and asking for pictures. That was unbelievable. On campus, people were asking us what we thought about the team and things like that," he said.

Williams' conditioning has been the main area for improvement ever since last summer, when his stock spiked on the summer travel circuit and he realized he'd have a chance to play major college basketball. His size and skills allowed him to dominate in high school, and he's not in bad shape phycially, but he's said for months that he needs to shed some of his baby fat in order to become ACC-ready.

"I haven't lost a lot of weight but I have a lot more muscle now. I've been eating a lot more protein and it's harder for people to move me around in the post," he said.

Williams said he was impressed by the work ethic of the whole team, most notably injury-riddle big man Jerome Burney, whom he said continues to work hard with hopes of returning to the rotation soon. Sophomore guard Sean Mosley also provided Williams and Padgett some additional guidance in terms of transition to college academically and athletically, Williams said.

Williams, who returns to College Park Aug. 29 to begin his freshman year, isn't conservative about the Terps' prospects this winter.

"As far as the Maui Invitational, I think we're going to win that. We have great coaches. We have the potential to win the ACC and go as far as anybody," he said.

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