Maryland football's getting its first mixed signals from five-star commit Zion Elee
The first twist in what could be a winding road to Signing Day for Maryland football's highest-rated commitment ever, Zion Elee.
Five-star football recruiting was already a wild frontier. With the earth-shaking arrival of NIL and revenue-sharing, it's become near-anarchy. So hoping for the No. 2 player in the country to verbally commit and then go off the grid for a year until National Signing Day would be pointless.For Maryland, that means a year of surviving and advancing each week while five-star commit Zion Elee does his thing in the national spotlight.
Elee committed to Maryland in early January, becoming the highest-rated recruit to ever commit to Maryland and is the nation's No. 1 edge and No. 2 player overall in 247Sports Class of 2026 recruit rankings. With him as the headliner, Maryland football's 2026 recruiting class is ranked No. 16 in 247Sports 2026 recruiting class rankings.
So, he has the sort of offer list you'd expect basically, everyone. After committing to the Terps in December, the 6-foot-3-and-a-half 220-pound junior at Baltimore recruit factor St. Frances Academy has been resolute about being committed and recruiting other top local players.
"I am definitely trying to communicate with Jireh [Edwards], Manny [Immanuel Iheanacho], Edward Baker," Elee said. "I am trying to get all these local guys to come on this project of hopping on board and trying to build Maryland up," he told 247Sports Brian Dohn a week ago.
Elee said he was locked in with Maryland and wouldn't be listening to other schools who've been calling. And there are lots.
"Everybody; Oregon, Penn State, Auburn," he told 247Sports' Brandon Huffman during check-in for the Polynesian Bowl. "There are a bunch of new schools trying to recruit me, too. I just don't respond to them. I haven't really responded to many of them."
He told Dohn, of Mike Locksley:
But Elee is a big ticket-item in today's market and other schools will continue to throw big offers at him. Inevitably, the first of what could be plenty of twists arrived on Monday, when Elee revealed he plans to visit an SEC program with deep ties at St. Frances this month. Per Dohn:
So as expected this is one, you're going to have to wait out until next signing day.
Elee made Greg Biggins' All-Lobby Team last week at the Polynesian Bowl. He wrote:
"Zion Elee is the No. 2 player in the 2026 class and definitely looks the part of a freak when you see him up close. He has a long, twitchy 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame with a ton of length and just looks supercharged.
He put up some freakish testing numbers last offseason and is coming off a strong showing at the Under Armour All-America Game where he didn't look out of place at all despite playing against a strong group of 2025 offensive linemen.
Elee will be able to play in any college front as a 3-4 or 4-3 edge rusher and should be an instant-impact player at the college level."
Zion Elee's Scouting Report:
Via Hudson Standish: "One of the more complete edge prospects in recent memory at this stage of the evaluation process ahead of his junior season. It feels as if he was built in a lab to get after the quarterback, verified hovering around 6-foot-4, 220 pounds with elite length measurements and a combine testing profile that could be mistaken for a field-stretching X receiver. Verified athletic markers are good enough to compare favorably against Top247 caliber senior edge rushers from the past two recruiting cycles. Outside of the athletic traits, has a natural feel for the position that allowed him to rack up 13 sacks in only nine games, even though his bag of pass-rushing moves isn't deep at this stage of his development. Building blocks of his game are his lightning-quick first step, closing burst, and ideal reactionary athleticism. Laterally explosive and can quickly move gap-to-gap or chase down ball carriers from the weak side. Motor consistently runs hot, and there might not be a better edge rusher in the 2026 cycle at quickly redirecting to wrap up evasive quarterbacks. Currently works as more of a new-age speed rusher who can occasionally work speed to power but owns the frame to put on weight and develop into a complete product while retaining the tools that make him unique. Will face a step up in competition as a junior after transferring from MPSSAA 1A program Joppatowne to Baltimore prospect factory St. Frances Academy. Should be viewed as a potential instant impact 3-4 outside linebacker at the next level who could eventually put on a show at the NFL Combine."
