Florida DE Clarence Murphy Commits to Maryland, Could Be Bringing Another With Him

Ah, you have to love those Rivals teasers. Pretty blatant stuff, no?

Reports surfaced earlier that Hollywood Hills (Fla.) three-star defensive end Clarence Murphy had brought his recruitment to a close by making a pledge to Maryland. This afternoon, Murphy confirmed that he will indeed be a Terrapin.

Nice job giving away your own scoop, Rivals, but I won't complain.

Anyway, Clarence Murphy is a moderately recruited DE from Florida - that's the second Floridian in the class for Maryland, a big change in philosophy from the past few years. Michigan was the other big offer for him, though the Wolverines are not what they once were. Wisconsin and Colorado State had offers, and some local schools (USF, UCF).

Murphy doesn't seem particularly big (only 230) or fast (4.95 40), but neither of those are dealbreakers at the college level. I honestly haven't seen anything on him, so I'll reserve judgedment. He's 3 stars across all three services with an ESPN grade of 76.

The bigger news about Murphy is that he's teammates and friends with Tony Grimes, a cornerback Maryland has been involved with, and they're supposedly package deals. That doesn't always work out, but it can't hurt. Less than a week ago, Grimes reiterated that the plan was for him and Murphy to go to the same school.

Grimes would be the real coup, and that's nothing against Murphy. Grimes is the 10th best CB on Scout and a 4 star (grade 80) on ESPN. When combined with Dexter McDougle and Travis Hawkins, he'd give the Terps one of the best secondaries in the ACC, if not the country, after they're seasoned for a few years.

If Grimes commits, that would probably be the end of the class unless Brandon Coleman or Arie Kouandjio committed. Not much more room in College Park.

[Note by Ben Broman, 01/08/10 5:59 PM EST] This from a Michigan recruiting analyst, Tom Van Haaren:

...[T]his probably means bad news for Michigan. [Grimes'] tone and the way he was talking wasn't very positive. With Murphy choosing Maryland, everyone is kind of seeing the writing on the wall. I'm not sure what happened to change Grimes mind, but it seems like it is changing.

Good news for Maryland fans, then. Would be a huge pickup at this point.