Early signing period arrives for Maryland football with five-star Zion Elee's year-long pledge materializing

Ahmed Ghafir
3 days ago
4 min read

Day one of the early signing period has officially arrived as head coach Mike Locksley and Maryland football are set to sign a 15-man class heading into Wednesday:

Signing day updates

7:00 AM: WR Josiah Teasley flips from Virginia to Maryland

7:15 AM: edge Jianni Davis, LB Kaden Carter, QB Nathan Bernhard have inked with Maryland. Bernhard served as one of four flip commitments over the final two weeks of the recruiting cycle

7:20 AM: safety Zahir Cobb, WR Jayden Kitchens, TE Brayden Marko have enrolled. Kitchens is expected to enroll in January with Cobb and Marko arriving in June

7:30 AM: DB Sean Johnson, who flipped his pledge from Florida State to Maryland, officially inked with the program five days after announcing his flip. He becomes the latest commitment out of Spalding with Maryland adding at least one in five of the last six recruiting cycles

7:43 AM: DL Cam Brickle, a former Ohio State pledge, previously flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Maryland before heading to campus in January. Brickle was a long-term priority target and took two visits for home games in addition to a June official, including returning for the Michigan game to solidify his pledge

7.56 AM: OT Jesse Moody officially signs with the program, becoming the second signee out of Imhotep in as many recruiting cycles

8:39 AM: safety Darrell Carey, TE Javonte 'JJ' Williams officially sign. Carey marked the lone former Penn State pledge in the class with Maryland moving quickly after the firing of James Franklin, giving position coach James Thomas a key piece to work with along the backline starting next summer. Williams, meanwhile, becomes a key piece of the future of the tight end room as a dynamic receiving threat. Williams transferred from Bullis to Northwest to solidify his early enrollment plans.

8:48 AM: IOL Day'Jon Moore signs with Maryland. After initially silently committing to Maryland, Moore's recruitment took a turn after pulling the trigger to Pitt on his next official visit, but Maryland didn't give up. Less than three weeks later, Moore announced his flip from Pitt to Maryland

1:01 PM: five-star edge Zion Elee has officially inked with Maryland, putting pen to paper 361 days after verbally committing.

1:20 PM: three-star CB Hakim Satterwhite makes his six month pledge official after inking ahead of the start of his signing day ceremony.

Story:

The headliner, of course, is St. Frances (MD) five-star edge Zion Elee, who initially committed to Maryland back on Dec. 7, 2024 to fuel the local recruiting efforts days after the program announced the foundational 2025 class headlined by quarterback Malik Washington. Elee’s recruitment has been filled with twists and turns since his initial commitment, though, initially releasing a slew of potential official visits with several dates set before nixing the entire visit schedule – until mid-May. The five-star popped up at Auburn on a ‘secret’ official visit as the Tigers proved to be the initial top suitor, but the vibe shifted back to Maryland heading into June with the Terps the lone official visit in June.

The sentiment since June remained that as long as Mike Locksley was head coach in 2026, Elee was expected to ink with the program to become the program’s highest-rated prospect in program history. With both Maryland and St. Frances on a bye weekend, Elee also visited South Carolina during the first weekend of November with the Gamecocks trying to flip him since, but multiple sources have reiterated the five-star has remained focused on Maryland ahead of arriving on campus in January. Elee also announced he dropped his NIL representation on the eve of signing day, but sources have told IBG that this was a realistic possibility through the fall and is not contingent on his commitment.

Elee is one of several commits slated to enroll early, including a pair of most recent flips in former Ohio State and IMG Academy (FL) three-star DL Cam Brickle and former App State and Ashland (OH) three-star QB Nathan Bernhard. Maybe Maryland’s most impressive flip this cycle is the latest addition to the class with Spalding (MD) three-star safety Sean Johnson officially in the fold, opting to flip from Florida State to Maryland after interest between the two sides ramped back up during the last two weeks of the regular season. Johnson will head to College Park in June, alongside DeMatha (MD) and former Penn State pledge Darrell Carey, to give the room a pair of local pieces with six combined conference titles between them.

Maryland’s 15-man class also features seven in-state commits while all but five hail inside the DMV. Maryland also dipped back into Philadelphia to snag its second commitment in as many recruiting cycles out of Imhotep (PA) with three-star Jesse Moody in the fold. As for the local guys headed to campus in June, a pair of three-stars could prove to be hidden gems with tight end Javonte ‘JJ’ Williams and wide receiver Jayden Kitchens set to put pen to paper.

Williams served as a key summer recruiting win with assistants James Thomas and Jerrod James leading the way, keeping the versatile receiving tight end local over Pitt and NC State, where he adds more optimism as a receiving threat alongside Dorian Fleming. Williams made the midseason transfer from Bullis to Northwest to solidify his early enrollment, while Kitchens also stuck with his transfer from Riverdale Baptist to St. James (VA) for his senior year before arriving in College Park.

Maryland enters the day with the 38^th-best recruiting class nationally, per On3, and tenth in the Big Ten with 15 verbal commitments heading into the day.

Head coach Mike Locksley is set to meet with media for his annual signing day press conference at 3:30 PM.

2026 verbal commits heading into early signing period

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