Maryland among the finalists for top-100 prospect

jaylen gilchrist

Four-star Jaylen Gilchrist has been a top target for Maryland with running back coach Latrell Scott leading the way over the last year on the blue-chip target out of Virginia. With official visit season quickly approaching, the top-100 prospect out of Salem (VA) released his top seven on Saturday.

Gilchrist, a 6-foot-4.5, 305-pound interior lineman, included Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Penn State, South Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech in his updated top group.

The Virginia native made his way to College Park for one of Maryland’s first practices as the Terps have long cemented themselves as a player in his recruitment. Jaylen Gilchrist is currently scheduled to wrap up a busy month of June with an official visit to Maryland the weekend of June 21. Before then, the four-star will hit the road to South Carolina (May 31), Virginia (June 7) and Georgia (June 14) with a summer commitment on the horizon.

Gilchrist made the way to College Park for the Virginia game last fall where he got a chance to watch Maryland pull out a 42-14 win on Friday night.

“It was amazing. I felt like I didn’t have to put on an act. I could just be myself,” Gilchrist said after his visit. “Coach Locks, we’ve talked before but when we did communicate, it wasn’t in-depth. But I will say our pregame talk we had, it kind of went in-depth. Some of the things he said that stuck out was the real family emphasis, making me feel at home away from home. That’s what I felt was the biggest thing to me. And not only that, he talked about life after football because football isn’t everything.”

One cycle after loading up along the offensive line, Maryland currently has one offensive lineman committed in the 2025 cycle with Pennsylvania native Kahlil Stewart in the fold since his mid-February decision. Led by Virginia four-star CJ Smith, Maryland will look to add to its five-man recruiting class with the spring game set for next Saturday.

Jaylen Gilchrist is rated a four-star prospect and a 92 overall by On3, checking in as the fourth-best prospect in Virginia in the 2025 cycle.