Maryland coach suggests South Carolina paid 5-star recruit to visit. Is it true?
Maryland football coach Mike Locksley was none too pleased that the Terrapins’ top commit in the Class of 2026 decided to spend last weekend on a visit to South Carolina.
His response? Make an unsubstantiated claim about the Gamecocks and commit an NCAA infraction in the process.
Here’s what happened: Five-star edge Zion Elee, who’s been committed to Maryland since December, took an official visit to South Carolina, which included attending the Gamecocks’ loss to Alabama.
This alone should not have been earth-shattering. Committed players take official visits to different schools all the time. But few recruits are as highly regarded as Elee.
Per 247Sports’ Composite Rankings for the Class of 2026, the Baltimore product is the No. 2 player in America and the top edge rusher.
While it probably wasn’t ideal for Locksley to see his top pledge down in SEC country, his response was bizarre.
“In my opinion, those guys, you know they get paid to go take those trips now,” Locksley said on ‘The Sports Junkies podcast’. “Why would I be mad for Zion to make five to ten grand to go down to South Carolina? He’s been one of those guys that’s been really loyal to this area, he’s been loyal to me and the program that we’ve created.”
Not only did Locksley commit an NCAA violation by talking about an unsigned high-school player by name, but he basically accused South Carolina of paying Elee to take the official visit.
That claim, according to a team source with knowledge of Elee’s visit, is false.
Later in his interview, Locksley tried to backtrack his assertion that South Carolina did anything wrong.
“Some of these schools have the ability where they pay kids to come take visits,” he said. “They hide it behind the NIL stuff and if the kid has an opportunity — I’m not saying that that’s what happened.”
On Thursday, Elee shared photos from his South Carolina visit on Instagram with the caption: “Weekend getaway #forevercommitted.”
The early-signing period begins on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 8:50 PM.
