Former Penn State commit Darrell Carey commits to Maryland

Class of 2026 safety Darrell Carey announced last Monday that he was officially opening up his recruitment. Now, just nine days later, the DeMatha prospect has found his future school, announcing his commitment to Maryland on Wednesday evening following an official visit to College Park this past weekend.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds, Carey previously committed to the Nittany Lions back in April following an unofficial visit to watch spring practice. He totaled just under 20 offers before making that decision, including top programs like Indiana, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas A&M.

“If he waited through the spring, he would’ve had 30 offers,” said DeMatha head coach Bill McGregor shortly after Carey committed to Penn State. “A ton of schools have been reaching out to us about him. He was going to bring a ton of schools in to see him these next couple of weeks. We had SEC, Big Ten and ACC coaches all calling to come get a look at him.”

Throughout his recruitment, Carey was never one to travel much, taking just one unofficial visit to Maryland in October 2024. Both Iowa and Wisconsin were interested in hosting him for an official visit this month, but in the end, he elected to stay close to home.

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Carey was one of Penn State’s lowest-ranked prospects in the class, coming in No. 663 nationally in the Industry Rankings. He’s also the 55th-ranked safety nationally and No. 17 overall in Maryland for the class. However, it should be noted that our staff consistently mentioned him as easily the most underrated player in the class.

“DeMatha prospect Darrell Carey is still the lowest-ranked nonspecialist in the class, but that shouldn’t be the case,” BWI’s Ryan Snyder wrote in mid-October. “Penn State’s current staff is very high on his potential, especially after he camped with them this summer, showing them how much he’s grown athletically.”

“Darrell is a really good young man who works extremely hard,” McGregor said. “He wants to be good and works at it. He’s very coachable as well. He doesn’t just do what you ask him to do, but he’s great at applying what we’re teaching him. He’s very similar to KJ Winston. They’re both long and athletic, can run well and aren’t afraid to hit ya. On top of that, they’re both super intelligent. I think he has the potential to have a great career at Penn State.”

Carey is now the eighth former commit to back away from Penn State following the decision to hire a new head coach. So far, three of those former 2026 commits have switched their commitments elsewhere: defensive lineman Alex Haskell (Syracuse), wide receiver Jahsiear Rogers (Oklahoma) and cornerback Jaziel Hart (North Carolina).