Nihym Anderson commits to Maryland: Terps land 3-star linebacker

Entering this week, Maryland football had one commit for its 2018 class. The Terps have tripled that total in 24 hours.

Three-star linebacker Nihym Anderson committed to Maryland Thursday, becoming the second recruit in as many days to join the class.

Four-star quarterback Tyler DeSue committed Wednesday, giving the Terps a centerpiece around which to build the rest of their recruiting class. He was the second commit in the 2018 cycle, but may have been the big domino that needed to fall for the class to pick up some steam.

Anderson, at 6’2, 227 pounds, has the frame and speed to be a prototypical linebacker in DJ Durkin’s base-nickel defense, which mainly utilizes only two linebackers.

He is the No. 37 outside linebacker in the country and the No. 14 player in New Jersey, according to the 247Sports player rankings. There is no composite ranking for Anderson just yet, but that will likely change after camp season starts up in the summer.

Anderson chose Maryland over seven other schools, including Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Rutgers.

After its historic class of 2017, Maryland’s class of 2018 took some time to draw the same kind of attention, but with DeSue, Anderson and Durrell Nchami, who committed in March, on board, the class has finally cracked the top 50 in the 247Sports team rankings, checking it at No. 44. Early rankings are greatly influenced by the quantity of recruits, rather than the quality of their ratings, so for the Terps to be up there with only three commits is quite impressive.