It was something to see Wednesday afternoon — six tables were lined end to end in the middle of the St. Frances Academy gym, gilded with banners of the school’s glorious sports past. There were 14 future Division I football players signing letters of intent to go all across the country: Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia Tech among their choices.

The highest-rated, most coveted player of them all is going to play football at Maryland.

Zion Elee is an outlier in many ways. He’s 6-foot-4 with 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash and athleticism that makes evaluators’ eyes bulge. He zoomed all the way to the top-ranked defensive end in the country, the composite-ranked fifth-best prospect at any position.

But the most unusual thing about him is that he wants to stay home and fortify a program that finished this season on an eight-game losing streak. Elee is not just the highest-ranked prospect in this Terps signing class — he’s the highest-ranked prospect the program has ever signed.

Elee said he wavered only once: when he worried the Terps might fire coach Mike Locksley.

“There was doubts at times because there was things going on with the staff, with the head coach change, if it woulda happened,” Elee said. “Just little cracks. But I always stood tall with Maryland. It was where I wanted to go since I committed.”

Locksley may have drawn Elee to Maryland, but it seems Elee’s commitment helped keep Locksley there. The five-star end’s faith in the head coach represents how, even as the team’s performance has waned in back-to-back 4-8 seasons, he has maintained just enough security by snagging high-profile in-state recruits.

“I’m a local guy — I’ve had great success with local players,” Locksley said Wednesday. “There hasn’t been anybody more committed to recruiting this region.”

Instead of paying a $13 million buyout to Locksley, who has a 36-44 record since he was hired in 2018, the Terps’ new athletic director, Jim Smith, pledged to increase his resources, especially when it comes to local recruits.

“We’re not going to be outbid by anybody,” Smith said in an October radio appearance. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

Elee is among a wave of incoming signees in multiple sports who seem to back up Smith’s promise. Terps men’s basketball earned a commitment from five-star forward Baba Oladotun out of Blake High. The women’s basketball program signed top-25 recruit Jordyn Jackson from D.C. Even the track program scored an almost unimaginable coup when Quincy Wilson, an Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter at the Bullis School, said he would join the Terps.

Suddenly, staying home is in vogue for the state’s biggest stars.

Although money certainly played a role in his recruitment, Elee is a Maryland believer who has said being in his home state matters more to him than name, image and likeness funds. He committed more than a year ago as a high school junior and, while Locksley had to hold off late threats from South Carolina and Texas, Elee never backed out. Elee also already makes six figures through an NIL deal he signed over the summer, giving him financial flexibility when choosing a college.

Elee said Smith’s open letter supporting Locksley, which had a mixed reception to say the least among restless fans, helped him reaffirm his commitment to playing for the Terps.

“It means a lot. It goes to show that he [Locksley] is doing something,” Elee said. “Any other coach, they would’ve took out the program. But [Locksley] is a staple for Maryland, and I believe in that. So that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Elee joins some promising freshmen from this past season, including quarterback Malik Washington and defensive linemen Sidney Stewart and Zahir Mathis, which Locksley called “the foundation” of his program on Wednesday afternoon.

A homegrown talent base has always been the dream for Maryland to finally step up a tier in the Big Ten, but it has been hard to come by — especially in the NIL era as Maryland’s ability to fund a competitive football program has fallen under scrutiny.

Locksley has hinted at a lack of resources affecting his ability to recruit. Smith seemed to agree it has held him back from the success Maryland craves.

But under Smith that should no longer be great an obstacle — or a defense for Locksley if the results continue to disappoint. With players of Elee’s caliber come great expectations, and in recent decades Maryland hasn’t done well with big ambitions. Signing day has traditionally been Locksley’s high point in the calendar, and the Terps have yet to have a winning conference record in the Big Ten.

That has to change. Fast.

On Wednesday, Elee wore sunglasses in the St. Frances gym under his red Terps cap. In his eyes, the future is bright.

“Yeah, Maryland athletics are definitely going up,” he said. “So we definitely have a big support system at all the sports at UMD. So that’s what we’re building off of.”