Maryland recruiting: 5-star Florida DE Byron Cowart says Terps 'will be' in his top five

By now, most of you know about Maryland's historic Big Show event this last weekend, wherein the Terps hosted an unbelievable number of blue-chip prospects from around the country (you can see the list here). A few names stuck out, with good reason, as a number of legitimate blue-chip prospects from Florida made a surprising visit to College Park.

Five-star defensive end Byron Cowart, five-star wide receiver George Campbell, four-star running back Ray-Ray McCloud III, four-star wide receiver Ryan Davis and three-star wide receiver Auden Tate all made the trip to Maryland from the Sunshine State, and early reports have them very impressed with the visit. Tate was really the only one of the group that Maryland was expected to have any sort of shot with, but getting kids on campus can yield unexpected results.

Like this.

Man all joke's a side I know this is different but God knows my heart but #Maryland will be in my top five #NoGames I loved the visit.

— Byron Cowart (@ByronHawkStar99) July 1, 2014

@ByronHawkStar99 no doubt

— Ryan Davis (@thaRD5) July 1, 2014

@ByronHawkStar99 @thaRD5 you speaking the truth boe

— Auden Tate (@itstate_18) July 1, 2014

#Maryland might gain an official visit from #Rivals250 WR Ryan Davis, @thaRD5 after his #Terps visit ($) http://t.co/bV96NZGPEj

— Rivals.com (@Rivals) June 30, 2014

Team mates at Maryland ??? #Terps #Maryland pic.twitter.com/1nXDBbRMm1

— Dream Team 1⃣ (@GeorgeCampbell0) June 29, 2014

Cowart is the undeniable star of the bunch, considered the top player in the nation by Rivals. He's an outstanding defensive end with terrifying speed, and holds offers from Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, LSU and USC among others.

The fact that Maryland was able to bring these kids to campus in the first place is astounding -- no one was (or even is) expecting any of them to commit to the Terps, but Randy Edsall and Mike Locksley have set out to get the program deeper into the national conversation, and this has done exactly that. The likely idea was for these visitors to have dividends in the 2016 class and beyond -- get them talking about Maryland, hope future kids take notice -- but it appears the staff did enough work that the reward could come sooner than that.

A reward did come, in the form of a player already committed to the Terps. After previously saying he was still looking for bigger in-state offers, three-star Florida running back commit Deltron Sands was so blown away by the Big Show that he's reportedly no longer looking anywhere else.

So, yeah. Even without a commitment, the Big Show is looking like an unmitigated and total success.