On Wednesday, Cordarrian Richardson "committed in space" to Maryland. On Thursday, he came back down to earth and signed with UCF.

The news caps off a whirlwhind process for the four-star running back from Memphis, who originaly had been committed to Clemson before reopening his recruitment in recent weeks, first visiting UCF, then Ole Miss and Rutgers.

He was expected to announce from those three on signing day, then at the last minute thought he might delay that decision in order to visit Michigan State this coming weekend. But those plans were quickly scrapped and he was back to the original three finalists, so he said.

But on signing day, via a pre-coordinated video with Bleacher Report that featured a high-altitude weather balloon, Richardson announced a commitment to Maryland, a school not once mentioned as a team of consideration and one he had not visited. Afterward, he told local reporters this:

"Recruiting is stressful," Richardson said. "That video was done a while ago. They asked me to pick my top five schools ... and they edited it.

"I knew it was Maryland two days ago ... but I just kind of wanted to surprise everybody. I didn't sleep very much (Tuesday night) though. I got to bed pretty late."

But Richardson never actually signed with Maryland. He was not included in the school's press release and head coach D.J. Durkin was not permitted to talk about him during their press conference given the fact he had not yet signed.

On Thursday morning, Richardson's National Letter of Intent arrived at UCF. That set off a firestorm of tweets from coaches, who promised big news was on the way. The school officially released the news at 10:16 a.m., via Scott Frost's Twitter account.

It's a big-time get for UCF, which lands one of the top running backs in the nation. Richardson rushed for 2,239 yards and 18 touchdowns as a junior, following with a 1,761-yard, 12-touchdown performance as a senior.