:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65930727/ELihiZaXUAIOmkm.0.jpeg)
After committing to Maryland football in June, three-star running back Peny Boone signed his National Letter of Intent and officially joined the program Wednesday morning.
The Detroit native is the No. 27 running back of the 2020 class and the 10th-best player in the state of Michigan, per the 247Sports Composite.
Rated as a four-star prospect when he originally committed, Boone chose the Terps over the likes of Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Tennessee, among others.
“I never really talked to Maryland,” Boone told Testudo Times earlier this month of the initial stages of his recruitment. “But when Coach [Mike] Locksley and them got there, they started talking to me. It was really cool. And that’s ultimately the place I decided I wanted to be and who I felt comfortable around.”
Boone rushed for 1,283 yards and 22 touchdowns in his senior season for Martin Luther King High School to be named the top player in his league. It was his second consecutive season rushing for over 1,000 yards.
With both Anthony McFarland Jr. and Javon Leake declaring for the NFL Draft, Jake Funk and Lorenzo Harrison III recovering from injury and Tayon Fleet-Davis’ status with the program unclear, the 6’2, 225-pound Boone brings some much-needed depth to Maryland’s running backs room.
“[Playing time] is something you have to work for,” Boone said. “I’m going to work for what I want. They left, so that gives me a better opportunity, but I’m not going to be relaxed about it.”
Three-star running back Ebony Jackson also committed in June, but says he’s signing in February. Another three-star back, Kyjuan Herndon, committed to the Terps on Dec. 8. Locksley and his staff are also trying to reel in the talents of four-star Atlante Brown at the position, and he will make his decision and later Wednesday.