Less than one week after he announced his commitment to Maryland, St. Frances (MD) five-star Zion Elee is set to return to campus for the first time as a Maryland commit. And he won’t be alone as Georgetown Prep (MD) five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho is slated to join him.
Iheanacho made himself a frequent face in College Park through the fall after visiting for three home games and its been a collective staff effort to keep the blue-chip offensive tackle close to home. 2025 signee Malik Washington also shifted from recruit to recruiter after committing in late June with Iheanacho among the long list of local prospects in contact.
“It's all been the same love, true genuine love. Even the players reach out to me,” Iheanacho told IBG over the weekend. “One of my old teammates is there and I was in the locker room after one of the games. And Andre Roye, he’s a Baltimore guy and he was telling me if I were to go to Penn State or go out of state, they’ll turn on you because you’re not from Pennsylvania, you’re not from Ohio. Going to a place like Maryland, they care about you right there so a lot of that has been shown on a bigger scale. That really opened my eyes because the home love is tremendous.”
Elee, meanwhile, became the highest-ranked player to ever commit to Maryland as Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State were among the long list of schools in pursuit of the nation’s top prospect.
“Recently, they’ve been really pushing a lot more. I’ve been getting to know them a lot more. I’ve built a connection with them. It just fits the puzzle now and I felt like it was time,” Elee told IBG after his decision.
Maryland’s 2026 class ranks within the top-20 nationally as head coach Mike Locksley looks to build on the local recruiting momentum established during the 2025 cycle.
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