IMG Academy 5-Star DE Joshua Kaindoh Spurns Ohio State for Maryland

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The surprise results D.J. Durkin and staff have turned in on the recruiting trail for the 2017 class thus far, especially before an official snap on the field has been taken in his Terrapins career, has caught college football’s attention. Despite just two years as a defensive coordinator at Florida and one game as an interim head coach with the Gators, high school recruits are responding to the message coming out of College Park from Durkin.

That message got really loud on Saturday when 5-star defensive end Joshua Kaindoh verbally committed to Maryland.

There was a little surprise with Kaindoh’s decision after releasing a Top 4 of Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Penn State on April 20 without Maryland in the mix. The 6’6”, 256 pound, athlete essentially did a bait and switch having the Terrapins in his Top 5 previously. The announcement is not as big of a surprise knowing Kaindoh played for Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Essex, Maryland, during the 2015 season before transferring to IMG Academy.

Kaindoh bucked an IMG Academy trend with two of his new teammates, five-star safety Isaiah Pryor and four-star cornerback Marcus Williamson, having committed to Ohio State. The top defensive end recruit in the nation (247Sports) will have company in Maryland with IMG 4-star defensive tackle Cam Spence. Spence committed to Maryland on April 7.

The announcement went public via Twitter with Kaindoh posting:

Other teams hoping to land Kaindoh included Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan State, USC, Oregon, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Maryland now has seven verbal commitments to their 2017 class with six of the seven coming in the month of April. Virginia tight end Andrew Park was the first on the board committing on March 3.

Maryland Terrapins 2017 Verbal Commitment List (7)

CB Fofie Bazzie, 6-1, 180, Quince Orchard HS, Gaithersburg, MD

DT Cam Spence, 6-5, 285, IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL

DE Joshua Kaindoh, 6-6, 256, IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL

OL Jordan McNair, 6-4, 276, McDonogh HS, Owings Mills, MD

TE Andrew Park, 6-5, 230, Lake Braddock HS, Burke, VA

QB Kasim Hill, 6-3, 215, St. John’s College HS, Washington, DC

ATH Ayinde Eley, 6-5, 205, Good Counsel HS, Olney, MD

Photo credit: twitter.com; Josh Kaindoh and Cam Spence at Maryland.