The No. 56 program of the 2026 cycle won the commitment of the highest-ranked player in the class. An unlikely pairing, right? Zion Elee shocked recruiters by picking Maryland as his college football home. The pairing makes history for the program and is a boon for a Terrapins class that is still languishing below the Top-50 mark. However, because the pairing is still so hard for us to place our bets on, it won’t surprise us if he decides to ditch Maryland at the end of it all.

Zion Elee, according to the Rivals Industry rankings, is the overall No. 1 player in the 2026 cycle. The safety hauled in a total of 62 tackles and 17 sacks across the last two seasons. Elee, combined with Maryland EDGE Zahir Mathis, could create one of the best duos at this position for the program. But since he’s committed to a middle-level program like the Terrapins, flipping him shouldn’t be much trouble, right?

Elee is adamant about staying at Maryland, much to the dismay of the three top-tier programs throwing their hats in the ring for him. Miami, South Carolina, and Penn State all want the No. 1 EDGE under their roofs. Elee reiterated his stance once again. “I’m staying locked in with Maryland. The relationship I have with the coaches is pretty tight,” he told Rivals. But despite that commitment, Elee has been looking at a few others. In June this year, the EDGE visited the Auburn campus. He is still siding with his local home, but Penn State, being the next nearest destination, should keep the program on Maryland’s look-out-for list.

ESPN named Zion Elee as one of the top flip-prospects for the 2026 cycle. It comes with his high ratings, of course, because who doesn’t want a top-ranking player to be part of their squad? Elee had even shut down his commitment in March. However, he told On3 that he is still in touch with the three programs. “Those are the only three I respond to, but there are a bunch more, but I don’t stay in contact with them. I don’t really respond to other schools,” he added. Oregon and Texas A&M were among the others competing to land the star player.

HC Mike Locksley arguably has the best player in the 2026 class, and the big fish in the game are obviously going to be upset for taking away the win. However, one fateful day sealed the deal for him and Zion Elee.

Zion Elee explained why Maryland was the winner over other elite programs

Elee tends to undermine the kind of programs that were battling for him. Even bluebloods Alabama and Ohio State were in the race to secure the EDGE. On his Rivals profile, Dan Lanning had an 86.3% chance of landing him. The Terrapins, however, had only a 3.4% probability because of him being a local prospect. But on October 19, Maryland pulled off an upset win over USC, which ended up being the catalyst for getting Elee’s pledge.

“That’s definitely when I felt it. When I had that meeting with Locksley, that’s when I started to feel it,” he said. For a program like Maryland, it’s normal for top-ranking players to take back their commitments when a bigger program makes a push. Locksley made that very clear with Elee. “When I had the meeting with Locks, he was telling me how all these big players from here go other places and make other places powers instead of just staying home and building at home. And I just felt that. I just want to build at home,” he added.

Locksley definitely has his eye on Elee because there is no way he is going to lose the crown jewel of the program’s recruiting history to others. But he’s going to have to break his back doing that. The EDGE shut down its recruitment nearly 3 months after committing, and the big guns are still pursuing the elite player. Will Maryland be able to continue as the home for this mega-recruit?