After committing to the Terps in February, McDonald’s All-American and consensus five-star recruit Derik Queen has officially signed his National Letter of Intent to play for Maryland. Queen, a Baltimore native, is the second-highest rated recruit (No. 12 nationally) to sign with the Terps between five-stars Diamond Stone (No. 8, 2015) and Jalen Smith (No. 15, 2018).
“We are excited to have Derik coming home to be a Terp,” said head coach Kevin Willard. “Derik has a tremendous skillset on both sides of the floor. He is a player that wants to make an impact on our program and we think he can do that early in his career.”
The 6-foot-10, 245-pound center has played the last three seasons at Montverde Academy in Florida after spending his freshman year at St. Frances Academy. Nationally, he ranked No. 10 overall by ESPN, No. 12 by 247Sports, and No. 15 by Rivals.
Queen led Montverde to a 33-0 record this past season where he led the Eagles with 16.4 points per game and 7.5 rebounds. He was named a MaxPreps Second Team All-American after leading Montverde to the Chipotle National Championship and earned All-Tournament honors.
Over the last two seasons, he averaged 14.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. As a freshman at St. Frances, Queen was named the MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year, while as a junior in 2023 was selected to the MaxPreps Junior All-American Honorable Mention Team.
In addition to playing at Montverde, Queen also played AAU basketball for Team Thrill which he led to the Under Armour Association U-17 spring championship in 2023.
Queen was named Co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-America Game earlier this month after scoring 23 points while adding eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. He was the first Terp since Adrian Branch to earn MVP honors.
In addition to Queen, the Terps have also previously announced the additions of transfer guards Rodney Rice (Virginia Tech) and Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Belmont) as well as the signing of freshman Malachi Palmer earlier today.
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