Maryland signs three, including former SEC pledge, to close 2024 class

Maryland has finalized its 2024 recruiting class with the signings of St. Frances (MD) fringe four-star cornerback Kevyn Humes, St. John’s (DC) three-star safety Shamar McIntosh and Norland (FL) defensive lineman Dimitry Nicolas.

The big surprise of the day was Dimitry Nicolas, whose pursuit materialized in the final hour to address one of two needs on defense. Nicolas, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound defensive end out of Florida, flipped his pledge from Auburn to Maryland on the morning of Feb. 7 in a last-minute pursuit from the Terps. Despite missing on Jeremiah Marcelin and Larry Tarver back in December, Maryland’s strong connections at the Florida powerhouse helped the staff address a key need. With the portal the initially preferred route for Maryland to restock the defensive line, Williams’s connections at Norland paved the way to fill a key need. Nicolas’s relationship with Williams dates back to before the three-star transferred into Norland, though the three-star had his focus elsewhere with Michigan State the initial perceived contender. Still, the Terps’ relationships helped seal the deal as Nicolas gave the staff his pledge on Tuesday to fill the final spot along the defensive line. Nicolas has not yet been signed by the school.

Humes, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound cornerback, committed to Maryland over Syracuse exactly one week ago with Penn State, Notre Dame, USC and Florida rounding out his top group. The local cornerback announced his decision to reclassify from 2025 to 2024 back on Christmas Day as the Terps were the lone finalist to not have an official visit set, but that wouldn’t take long to change. Once Aazaar Abdul-Rahim joined the program, the Terps moved full-steam ahead and managed to get Humes on campus for unofficial visits on consecutive weekends for basketball games against Michigan State and Indiana. Humes then took his official visit to Maryland the weekend of Feb. 2 before finalizing his pledge on signing day. Despite reporting elsewhere that his pledge was a ‘surprise,’ Humes was a top target for Maryland since the coaching change. His signing has already been announced:

McIntosh, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety out of Washington D.C., committed to Maryland following his official visit back on Dec. 10 as the Terps were the team to beat throughout the fall.

“It was great to just sit down with coach [Mike] Locksley and hear from him on the right things to do and talk to the rest of the coaching staff and make me feel at home,” McIntosh told IBG. “I feel like something that really caught on to me is when coach Locks was talking to us, he wants us to achieve stuff after football and the mentorship we have at Maryland will set us up for after football life. Getting an education is the first thing he’s worried about, getting us a diploma to be successful in life.”

With its 24 student-athletes inked, Maryland has finalized the 45th-best recruiting class nationally according to On3, which sits 14th in the Big Ten ahead of Washington, Indiana, UCLA and Northwestern.

Meanwhile, nine early enrollees are already two weeks into their college careers with Ryan Howerton, Dejuan Williams, Brandon Jacob, Logan Bennett, Lloyd Irvin, Braydon Lee, Keyari James, Anthony “Trey” Reddick and Mekhai White.

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May 17, 2024