4-star Maryland football ATH target Devon Hunter could play anywhere

Four-star Virginia safety Devon Hunter is being highly recruited as one of the best players in the nation. He has accumulated 33 scholarship offers, including these programs from Maryland and a bunch of recruiting heavy hitters: Virginia Tech, Clemson, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, North Carolina and a bevy of others.

Hunter insists he doesn't have a frontrunner at this point, although expert consensus has aligned for Virginia Tech. But Hunter said he likes DJ Durkin's Maryland staff and is giving the Terps a serious look.

"Maryland is a great school," he told Testudo Times. "I got to talk with a new staff, and they told me what they saw in me and what I could bring to the program. They welcomed me with open arms."

Hunter wants to wait until the end of his senior season at Indian River High School to make a decision. He might wait until National Signing Day, or he might not. Hunter is coming off of a great junior season where he recorded 91 tackles, 11 pass break-ups, three interceptions (two returned for touchdowns), a forced fumble and three offensive scores.

He plays the quarterback, safety and wide receiver positions, which gives him a lot of versatility. He enjoys playing safety the most, and that's probably where he'll wind up in college.

"The safety position I like the most because it helps become a better athlete. Basically getting down, making plays on the field, and learning the game all around so I can be the best player I can be," he said. "In clutch moments, I can show my defensive side and my offensive side and make a play."

The 6'2, 205-pound athlete from the Sunrise Hills area of Chesapeake is rated the fourth-best safety and second-best player in Virginia by the 247Sports Composite. As Maryland recruits harder and harder in Virginia with former UVA coach Mike London leading that charge, Hunter would be a great target to land, albeit a difficult one. 

He got his start playing the sport at the tender age of five but things really took off for him when he received his first two offers as an eighth grader from North Carolina and Virginia Tech.

"I started playing when I was around like five, my mom had me playing flag football for two years. I wanted to tackle. When I was playing tackle my first year, I was a little scared of contact so I used to run away from bigger dudes and stuff like that," he said. "The next year, I don’t know, it just clicked. I started scoring like four or five times a game, getting interceptions, laying dudes out. I bought that into middle school and when I got my first offer in eighth grade…It was like a dream and it came true."

Hunter and the Indian River Braves made it all the way to the 2015 VHSL semifinal game and fell just short of reaching the championship game when they lost to Highland Springs, 35-10.

"What I’ll miss the most is playing on Friday nights when the lights are on with packed stadiums and making plays for them," Hunter said. "The impression I want to leave is for people to know that I made history there and I was the best player to come out of the school."

What's less clear is where he'll be next.