5-star Maryland commit Zion Elee, ESPN’s No. 1 defender within the 2026 class, has shut down his recruitment and canceled his slate of scheduled official visits to different colleges, he informed ESPN on Friday.
Elee is the No. 3 total prospect within the ESPN Junior 300. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound edge rusher from Baltimore has been dedicated to the Terrapins since Dec. 7, 2024, and would be the highest-ranked signee in program historical past if he finally indicators with Maryland later this yr.
Regardless of his pledge to the Terps, Elee maintained an open recruitment within the early weeks of 2025. He met with coaches from Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, USC and Texas in January and took an unofficial go to to Auburn earlier than the contact interval closed Feb. 3. Elee later informed ESPN that he had locked in spring official visits to Auburn, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M and South Carolina, together with Maryland.
Elee remains to be on for his official go to with the Terps on June 20. However he has formally nixed deliberate journeys to the opposite 5 campuses, and informed ESPN that he doesn’t intend to stay involved with packages apart from Maryland’s transferring ahead.
Elee started his highschool profession at Joppatowne (Maryland) Excessive College, the place he logged 64 tackles and 13 sacks in his sophomore season in 2023. He transferred to Maryland’s Saint Frances Academy forward of his junior yr final fall, and recorded 56 tackles with 10 sacks and three pressured fumbles in his debut season with this system earlier than committing to the Terps over Oregon, Alabama and Penn State in December.
Elee has spent loads of time on the Maryland campus since his dedication, visiting often for exercises, basketball video games and recruiting occasions with this system. He has additionally famous relationships with Terps assistants Aazaar Abdul-Rahim and James Thomas Jr. as essential elements in his agency dedication to this system located little greater than 30 miles from his highschool.
“If I wasn’t dedicated there, I’d have decommitted already,” Elee informed ESPN this month. “I need to go to school in a spot I really feel like I can stay in and a spot the place I can have a future. I would like it to be a spot that looks like residence. Maryland is already residence.”
Elee is the lone ESPN 300 recruit amongst 4 prospects dedicated to Maryland in 2026 and stays the top-ranked pledge in program historical past, forward of former Terps vast receiver Stefon Diggs, who was the No. 13 prospect within the 2012 cycle.
Coach Mike Locksley and Maryland inked the nation’s Twenty fourth-ranked signing class within the 2025 recruiting cycle, headlined by top-100 defensive finish Zahir Mathis and 6 different members of the ESPN 300.