How close is Auburn to flipping nation's No. 1 EDGE Zion Elee from his Maryland commitment

Hugh Freeze's success in flipping top recruits paid off for Auburn in the 2025 class when they landed five-star quarterback Deuce Knight from Notre Dame. While the 2026 class hasn’t seen a flip of that magnitude yet, five-star Maryland edge rusher commit Zion Elee remains a key target.

Elee committed to Maryland in December and publicly ended his recruitment in February, canceling planned official visits to schools like Ohio State, Penn State, Auburn, Texas A&M and South Carolina.

Surprisingly, Elee made an unofficial visit to Auburn last weekend. However, he reiterated his commitment to Maryland, telling On3,

"I enjoyed my visit to Auburn, but I'm still 100% committed to Maryland," he told On3 on Friday.

Expand Tweet

Elee also confirmed he won’t take any more official visits and that his recruitment is “still closed.”

Schools like Ohio State and Texas A&M may no longer be serious threats, but Hugh Freeze's program still poses a significant challenge to Maryland’s hold on Elee. Just two weeks before his visit, Elee hinted at interest in the Tigers by tweeting a War Eagle emoji, sparking flip rumors.

Expand Tweet

The fact that Auburn got him to visit despite his shutdown suggests they may still be in play. With Michigan flipping No. 1 quarterback Bryce Underwood in the 2025 class after a long-standing LSU commitment and no visits elsewhere, it’s clear that surprises can happen in recruiting. Keeping Elee committed will be one of Mike Locksley’s biggest challenges for the 2026 cycle.

Why did Zion Elee choose Maryland over Auburn and others?

Zion Elee is the No. 1 edge rusher in the 2026 class and the No. 6 recruit in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. If he signs with Maryland, he will become the highest-rated recruit in the school's football history.

Major programs like Auburn might be prepared to make substantial offers to land him, but Elee chose to stay in-state and commit to Maryland.

“It definitely means a lot, you know, being able to stay home and influence the other guys that are in Maryland, it definitely brings attention to big recruits staying home, because that’s not normal at Maryland,” Elee told On3 in February. “All the big recruits from Maryland go somewhere else, but me, being a big recruit and going to Maryland, it’s going to influence other guys to stay home, too.”

Elee is scheduled to make his official visit to Maryland’s campus the weekend of June 20.

About the author

Maliha is a High School Sports news and listicles writer at Sportskeeda. A post graduate in Management Information Systems, it was her love for writing and sports which led her down the path of sports content creation. An experienced NBA and NFL writer, she covered the two sports extensively at SportsZion and SportsKnot before joining SportsKeeda.

Maliha is a huge Baltimore Ravens fan and is in awe of quarterback Lamar Jackson's dual-threat abilities. She also admires Tom Brady and her all-time favorite coach is 3-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid. She is a big advocate of high school sports and believes that elite athletes reach a top level owing to the discipline, hard work, team dynamics, resilience, adaptability and self-confidence learnt by playing sports in high schools. Aaron Rodgers leading the Green Bay Packers to victory on his debut against the Minnesota Vikings is one of her fondest NFL memories.

Maliha places a high emphasis on accuracy in her content. She does thorough research, always double checks facts, and only uses information from most relevant and credible sources for her articles. When not writing, she likes to read history and biographical books.

Know More

Edited by Ribin Peter