At the 1:00 mark of Alex Twine's nearly nine-minute highlight reel is a play from the Quince Orchard High School football team's Sept. 3 victory at Kennedy.

The Kennedy quarterback pitches the ball to a running back. Twine, an outside linebacker, launches his head into the back's stomach, wraps his arms around the back's legs, lifts him up and hurls him to the ground in the backfield for a loss.

The entire process lasts roughly two seconds, and the tackle is as ferocious looking as it is fundamentally sound.

The video goes on with more of the same sort of moments: crushing tackles, forced fumbles and interceptions that couldn't be ignored during Twine's 2010 senior season with the Cougars.

It's those moments that earned Twine a Division I scholarship offer - he committed to the University of Maryland on Tuesday - during a time when schools typically don't offer seniors. As college bowl season approaches, recruiting classes for next fall are mostly filled out.

Twine's story is unique, though, because until the 2010 season, highlights like the one against Kennedy were in short supply.

Twine was a late bloomer, to the point where his coaches worried his obvious physical ability might go to waste.

"I told him last year I knew he could be a Division I football player," Quince Orchard coach Dave Mencarini said. "I pulled him aside in practice, when we were having one of our little heart to hearts and said, 'You could either believe me or not believe me. You're a Division I football player. You're gonna piss this thing away because you don't believe it.' And I'm glad he believed it."

Twine started the 2009 season as a back-up. Before starting the final four games of his junior campaign and all of the Cougars' games in 2010, he made his mark on kickoff coverage and kickoff returns.

At 6-feet and roughly 200 pounds, Twine possessed an instinct for finding the ball carrier and a rare combination of speed and strength.

Yet something was missing from his game.

"It was his reluctance to see what we all saw in him as coaches," Mencarini said. "He should have been the starter all year long, but he didn't have the confidence in his ability and if you have a kid who's not confident, then they go out and they're not able to showcase their skills and show you how talented they are. Maybe they're a step slower or just a hair timid."

Twine received plenty of college interest, including some from top FCS (formerly I-AA) schools such as James Madison, Delaware and UMass. But he wanted more.

"I always wanted to play at a big school, a Division I school," Twine said. "At first, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do in terms of college. There really wasn't any place I wanted to go. I was waiting to see all the options I had."

To create more opportunities, Twine dedicated himself before his senior season.

Mencarini said Twine was his team's hardest worker from January to August, and that preparation paid off immediately.

"He was a hell of a lot more consistent this year than he was last year," Mencarini said. "He just started making plays from the very first practice all the way through the last game of the year. I mean, the plays that he was making are plays Division I players make."

The stats - Twine recorded 52 tackles (18 tackles for loss), four forced fumbles and three interceptions this season - earned recognition. Twine will play in the Maryland Crab Bowl, a high school football All-Star game on Saturday at Bowie State that includes some of the region's most acclaimed players.

But it was the film that told the story.

Quince Orchard sent tape from the Cougars' first three games, including the play against Kennedy, to the Maryland coaching staff.

The coaches liked what they saw and remained in contact. After the remainder of the season - the Cougars fell at Damascus in the Region 3A West Final on Nov. 19 - the team sent the Terrapin coaches more tape of Twine.

Twine went on an official visit, received a scholarship offer and accepted it a few days later when Maryland defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Dave Sollazzo made the trip to Quince Orchard.

In less than a year, Twine went from a virtual unknown to part of the Terps' 2011 recruiting class.

"It's been exciting," Twine said. "I mean, [Tuesday] I got on the phone with [Maryland] coach [Ralph] Friedgen and we talked and he just asked me what I was going to do.

"I ended up just telling him I was gonna commit," Twine said. "I was gonna become a Terp. It was exciting all day."

The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun, among others, called for interviews. At Tuesday's Crab Bowl practice on Maryland's campus, a few photographers followed Twine during the Washington team's walk-through.

"All of this recruiting stuff and all of this attention; he's learning how to handle that," Mencarini said. "That's why he appears to be quiet. But he's not really quiet at all."

The highlights, all nine minutes of them, prove that, at least in terms of Twine's ability on the field.

In was just a matter of finally showing it.

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