A year ago, Mike Locksley and the Maryland Terrapins made a big splash by flipping five-star wide receiver Rakim Jarrett from LSU on December 18.
The flip is not to that magnitude, but once again, Maryland took another team's commitment away on the first day of the Early Signing Period.
This time it is four-star linebacker Branden Jennings, and he had been committed to Michigan since October 12.
Before he committed to the Wolverines, he was committed to Florida State, an in-state school for the star out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood for seven months.
Verbal commitments do not mean a whole lot because they are easy to back out of and change, but now that the pen has hit the paper, it is different and Maryland is getting a player on the defensive side of the ball.
"Branden is a day one guy,” Sandalwood head coach Adam Geis said about his star player. “He’s the most serious guy I’ve ever coached. He is so physical. We prepare our guys to play college football, and Branden stays focused, he has been through it all, and he is a player that will game ready right away.”
Jennings is all of 6-feet 3-inches talk and pushing 235 pounds midway through his senior season. He is a versatile defender.
"Branden can play all four linebacker positions. He has great size, he is athletic and he is vicious on the field. He is just different. He will take aggression and toughness to Maryland and I think he will play very well in that defense."
Not only is Jennings versatile, but he is plays looking to punish the opponent too.
“Branden breaks helmets," said Geis. "He plays so violent. He’s just different. He plays like Dick Butkus played back in the 1960s."
