Head coach Mike Locksley has four commits in the 2026 class with five-star edge Zion Elee headlining the early haul, but Maryland football made the cut for the other blue-chip target in their backyard as Georgetown Prep (Md.) five-star OT Immanuel Iheanacho released his top eleven.
Maryland made the top group alongside Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Penn State, Maryland, Miami (FL), Florida, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
Iheanacho has remained consistent that Oregon is his leader with Georgia in second while Maryland, Alabama and Penn State are in the next tier of schools. All five schools are expected to receive an official visit though the Terps are working to keep the five-star close to home.
Iheanacho visited for the UConn, USC and Rutgers games during the 2024 season before returning to campus in mid-December alongside Elee and Myles McAfee, a top-100 prospect out of Spalding (Md.) in the 2027 class. Iheanacho returned to campus alongside both Elee and McAfee for the basketball game vs. Wisconsin with the Terps entrenching themselves as a contender.
Assistant James Thomas has spearheaded efforts with the blue-chip target dating back to last summer with a collective staff effort working to keep Iheanacho home.
Iheanacho noted that Elee’s commitment gave Maryland a “big boom” in their pursuit.
“Maryland at the moment is in my top eight. I still want to keep everything modest, but having [Zion Elee] definitely motivates me more,” Iheanacho told IBG. “If everyone were to stay in Maryland, we’d be in the top five every year. everyone wants to go out to Penn State, Ohio State but getting a guy like me and Zion would just bring other high-impact guys in. Elee is a big boom for them.”
Iheanacho previously noted his relationships extends to the current players.
“It's all been the same love, true genuine love. Even the players reach out to me. 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.”
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