Maryland’s search for a quarterback in the 2009 class took the Terps to Western Pennsylvania, where earlier this week they received a commitment from Seneca Valley dual-threat C.J. Brown.

Brown, 6 feet 3, 180 pounds, threw for 1,567 yards and 11 touchdowns, and rushed for 586 yards and five touchdowns during his junior season at Seneca Valley. He runs somewhere in the neighborhood of a 4.6 40.

Seneca Valley head coach Ron Butschle said Brown’s arm strength and speed allow him to fit in almost any offensive system.

“Well he’s extremely athletic -- he’s a quarterback who’s athletic,” Butschle said. “He’s not like some of these athletes that are quarterbacks. He kind of fits in any style of offense. We run the spread offense where we run a lot of quick passes. He’s involved in the running game. He’s probably one of the fastest, if not the fastest, guy on the team. Plus, he’s a very athletic, strong player who’s got a great arm and has tremendous football sense. He does a lot of things that you can’t coach.”

Butschle said one of those uncoachable traits that’s a strength of Brown’s game is his decision-making. Brown has developed a heightened awareness of when the time is right to tuck and run.

“He just has a knack for escaping at the right time,” Butschle said. “Timing-wise he’s very smooth. He’s got great lateral movement and he’s also got a great burst. He’s definitely got football game speed.”

Butschle has had Brown on the varsity for two seasons, but the first was kind of a wash. The Raiders had a senior quarterback, but Brown was brought up to compete and play in spots. In his first start during that sophomore season, Brown broke his collarbone, sidelining him for the rest of the year. But Butschle said Brown rebounded from the injury as well as you could expect.

“He was fine,” Butschle said. “He missed, I think, three weeks of our season and a few weeks of basketball. He’s also the point guard on the basketball team. He’s a very good basketball player. If he played baseball, he’d probably be the shortstop. He could probably pick up a tennis racket and be good at that, too. He worked really hard [to get back from the injury], and he’s really working hard now. He’s a tough kid.”

Programming note: I’ll have more from Brown this week or next.