Maryland makes splash with surprising recruiting haul

Scan through the list of ESPN RecruitingNation's top 2017 classes, and you'll find the usual Big Ten suspects at the top.

There's Ohio State and Michigan in the top six, naturally. Penn State is No. 17. And then there's one more league team in the top 20: Maryland.

Wait, Maryland? Seeing the Terrapins rated that highly is almost as unusual as, say, a four-star running back committing via a weather balloon in space. Which also happened, when Cordarrian Richardson pledged to Maryland over Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Michigan State and other suitors on Wednesday.

Richardson didn't end up signing with the Terps -- space commits aren't what they used to be -- as he flipped to UCF on Thursday in a bizarre…