Maryland football edge rusher Zion Elee tabbed to 2026 midseason All-American team

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For the second consecutive season, at least one outlet has tabbed a Maryland football freshman to the midseason All-American team.

After quarterback Malik Washington joined edge rushers Zahir Mathis and Sidney Stewart one season ago, The Athletic tabbed edge rusher Zion Elee to its 2026 midseason All-American team, released on Tuesday.

The irony is Elee is one of two St. Frances Academy products on the team alongside Oregon State wide receiver Jesse Legree, who has proven to be the biggest success story of the 2026 season. As for Elee, the former blue chip recruit now leads Maryland with 3.5 sacks and 4.5 TFLs at the bye week, in addition to three forced fumbles. The Athletic noted Elee's 11 pressures on 76 pass rush snaps ranks fifth nationally among freshmen, adding credence to his instant impact ability in pass rush situations as head coach Mike Locksley noted he's "a little ahead" of where freshmen edge rushers usually are at this stage in his career.

Elee has at least assisted on a sack in each of his last three games and forced a fumble in each of his last two.

"He has a gift to rush the quarterback, and every opportunity he's been given that that gift, that ability to rush the quarterback," Locksley said of Elee. "He's made plays for us. But I also think that much like a young quarterback, how much you give them early is important because he's continued to put on the size that he's going to need to play in the Big Ten."

Yet there have been some teaching moments for Elee having been called for a pair of personal fouls against Nebraska, which is what head coach Mike Locksley said can be cleaned up after noting he hasn't been pleased "with the post-snap things that have happened."

"And as I've said before, because I've done this a long, long time, it's being a parent, it's teaching. Every one of those moments are teachable moments. I could easily match his energy and kind of go off and overreact to it. But one of the things I did on that on his 15 yarder this week was I said, tell me why they threw the flag because if you watch the play, the ref allowed both guys to kind of chirp a little bit, which we don't want to do. And as he came off and he's super hey, tell me why you got the flag, and he did. I said you got the flag because you went back. And so the teaching lesson was you can't go back if the ref is going to allow you and the guy to kind of do what you do. When you walk away, you walk away. And that's the teachable moment."

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