Four-star RB recruit Anthony McFarland commits to Maryland ... on Snapchat

Anthony McFarland is a far-from-ordinary talent, a four-star running back from DeMatha rated the nation's No. 3 all-purpose back, No. 2 recruit in Maryland and No. 160 overall player in the 247Sports.com Composite rankings. He has scholarship offers from Alabama, Miami, Penn State and Maryland, among others.

Because normal commitment news conferences are so 2016, McFarland also made his pledge Friday far from ordinary: He committed to the Terps via Snapchat.

Bleacher Report chronicled his decision day on its feed through the ephemeral messaging service. Like a lot of Snapchat feeds, it was pretty mundane, required considerable patience and featured so many emoji.

Here's the 5-foot-9, 203-pound McFarland introducing himself at around 10 a.m., the first Snapchat sent. (Click on the "Expand" button for full-size screengrabs.)

Here are his top three schools.

Here's one of his "paths."

Here he is getting on the Washington Metro, bound for ... who knows.

Here he is discussing why he'd play for Maryland, but in 10 seconds or less, because this is Snapchat: "Maryland means everything to me. This is where I was born and raised. This is where my family is from. So the fact that I got the opportunity to play football here, it's a blessing."

Here he is saying, "We're here," the site of his decision. Where "here" is, I still cannot divine.

Here is he is saying, "I've got to go catch a flight," before throwing up some deuces. But if he's picking Maryland, why would he need to catch a flight ...?

Here he is showing two boarding passes at Reagan National Airport, one to Miami and one to Tuscaloosa, Ala., which seems wasteful.

Here he is on an actual plane.

Here he is rubbing Testudo's nose in College Park, because this Snapchat story was not actually filmed live.

And here is is — one misdirection, two modes of transportation, 2 1/2 hours, hundreds of Snapchat refreshes and countless what-am-I-doing-with-my-life thoughts from fans later — committing to Maryland, the Terps' highest-rated pledge in the Class of 2017.

Bring back the hidden-hat commitment routine. And please, don't do it on Snapchat.