5-star Maryland recruit Zion Elee first made his name at Joppatowne

Albert Goode has been in the office of nearly every top college football coach. He’s sat across from Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Penn State’s James Franklin and Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, surrounded by facilities that he said made him feel like he was “walking on clouds.”

That became a familiar sensation for him ever since he first saw Zion Elee, who sat next to him on each visit, the previous year. The Joppatowne football coach and the talented defensive end spent just one season together — Elee transferred to St. Frances this past summer before his junior season — but it was enough time for Elee to skyrocket up recruiting rankings and for the pair to form a connection that remains strong.

The five-star recruit spurred all of those top programs and announced his commitment to the Maryland earlier this month, the climax of a meteoric rise that no one had a better vantage point for than Goode.

Elee, who’s always stood out on the field, brought national attention to the small Harford County school. And Joppatowne, which helped launch his stardom, remains home for Elee.

“He could tell I cared,” Goode said. “It’s gonna be cool for me, in 20 years, to say ‘I knew Zion Elee.’”

‘Then the pads came on’

Elee already had an offer from Oregon when he went to Eugene for a high school camp, but still felt he had to prove himself to Lanning. The Ducks coach started the day with a challenge to every player in attendance: “If you think you’re the fastest one here, get on the line,” Lanning told the group. Elee rose to his feet — the only defensive lineman brave enough to go against running backs, receivers and defensive backs in a foot race.

Elee beat them all. Lanning shut him down for the rest of the day. That was all he needed to see.

“You ain’t gotta do nothing else,” Goode recalled Lanning saying.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound pass rusher stands out — and above — any peers. The Joppatowne coach was the first to see it, but it didn’t take long for the secret to spread.

Spectators first notice Elee’s speed. Goode first met Elee in July 2023 after he transferred to Joppatowne from Mount Carmel and was enamored by those physical traits. The Mariners’ coaching staff saw a tall, lean and quick player who they thought could be a force on the edge. But the season was still months away, too early to draw any conclusions about his role on the team.

“And then the pads came on,” Goode said.

Elee needed just one play in an intrasquad scrimmage to confirm his coach’s hopes. Elee lifted an offensive tackle off the ground by his shoulder pads and tossed him into a ball carrier, jarring the ball loose for Elee to scoop up himself, spin out of the crowd and run it back for a touchdown.

Eyes widened. Coaches said nothing.

“We just looked at each other,” Goode said. “Right away we knew he was going to be different.”

In his lone season at Joppatowne, Elee posted 64 tackles and 13 sacks, rocketing up recruiting rankings and became one of the top prospects in the 2026 class. It was also the first time he had access to a weight room. The team collected each player’s one-rep maximums on bench press and squat at the start of the season. Elee, in his first-ever attempts at either exercise, benched 285 pounds and squatted 500 pounds, both team bests.

“He was a big fan of working out without a shirt,” Joppatowne defensive line coach James Murray said. “There’s a natural frame there that is God-given.”

It was easy for Elee to shine at Joppatowne, which competes in Maryland’s lowest classification and routinely sports one of the area’s smallest rosters.

The team started his sophomore season with just five offensive linemen. By the opening round of the state tournament, they were down to four. Goode hoped his star edge rusher would be willing to fill the need in a pinch but worried about asking him. Playing both ways could limit Elee’s impact on defense and increase injury risk.

“Z, it’s thin right now,” Goode said. “I might need you to play some tackle.”

“Coach, you should have been [telling] me to do that,” he recalled Elee saying.

“That right there told me what type of guy Zion was,” Goode said.

The Mariners lost to Boonsboro, 20-12, the last time Elee dressed in Joppatowne purple. He left a monstrous impact in his brief stint there to catapult himself into the national spotlight. Still, the Elee family hasn’t left quiet Harford County. They might not have to.

Staying home

Elee is Maryland’s third highest rated recruit ever behind only Stefon Diggs (2012) and Wesley Jefferson (2003), according to 247Sports. He’s the second-highest ranked prospect nationally in the Class of 2026 and his addition has the Terps’ class ranked 13th in the country. If it stands, it’ll be Maryland coach Mike Locksley’s best class ever. The defensive end chose the Terps over Penn State, Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Miami and Texas A&M, among other powerhouse programs.

Any of those would have offered a better chance at a championship than Maryland likely will. Name, image and likeness (NIL) earning opportunities are also greater elsewhere. But Elee “isn’t a materialistic guy,” Goode said. And playing in College Park lets his mother, who lives in Joppa, watch him play.

The Elees are Maryland natives with Nigerian roots. Football was foreign to them. Zion’s mother learned what the sport really is — and its potential to give her son a path to college — just this year. She signed him up to play at 7 years old at Zion’s own request, not fully aware of what it entailed. Since, she’s watched her son’s rise firsthand from the bleachers.

He wants that to continue.

“He wasn’t always talking about money,” Goode said. “We always talked about going somewhere where Mom can see me play all the time. Family is important to him. He has a small family that I know he wants to stay relatively close to.”

Goode has been a fixture by Elee’s side. When recruiting attention ramped up in the spring after his sophomore season, Goode accompanied his star defensive end on every visit. He’ll join Elee for a trip to College Park on Friday, his first after announcing his commitment.

Elee values Goode’s opinion. After the summer scrimmage that left Goode speechless, the coach asked his newcomer if he’d begun thinking about the next level. “I want to play big time college football,” Elee replied. So after the season ended, Goode said the duo “locked in and went everywhere.”

But more than any cross-country trip, the moment that confirmed to Goode he had Elee’s respect was when he called Goode to say he planned to transfer to St. Frances. Jumping from public to private schools is common for players on the level of Elee. A conversation is rare.

“I’ve had players leave in the past, way less of caliber than Zion Elee,” Goode said. “I never got a phone call. That let me know a lot right there.”

St. Frances can offer better exposure and resources than Joppatowne, a reality Goode accepted. Still, Elee hasn’t stopped seeking advice from his former coach. He’s still close friends with some of his former teammates. And he won’t put distance between him and his mother.

“He doesn’t want to let people down,” Murray said. “Especially people that invested time and believe in him.”

Leaving behind those who’ve always been there wouldn’t be like Elee.

Have a news tip? Contact Taylor Lyons at tlyons@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/TaylorJLyons.