Ryan Day gets his extension, five-star edge rusher has plans to visit Ohio State

Zion Elee may be committed to Maryland, but he still wants to visit Ohio State.

It seems as if each passing day so far this offseason there’s more news surrounding Ohio State’s coaching staff. Wednesday seeing the changes and additions to the offensive staff, Thursday brought more news as Ryan Day earned his latest contract as Ohio State’s head coach, extending him through the 2031 season.

With a big pay raise to go along with it, this move is deserved following the impressive national championship run Day was able to help lead this team to. Quite the change from the regular season finale, the Buckeyes have their coach for the long haul, and the desire to keep him as the program’s leader should give the Buckeyes continued success.

Five-star Maryland commit still planning to see Ohio State

So far, Ohio State has yet to land a defensive line commit for their 2026 class, but that’s not going to be the case for too long. Offering well over 30 players at the position to this point, the Buckeyes are still fully in evaluation mode, and new names are sure to pop up here and there even with a priority list of targets already created.

A position of importance in every recruiting cycle, Larry Johnson and Ohio State are coming off an incredible four-game run, and should have more momentum now than possibly ever when it comes to recruiting. With a high level of production both from the edge rusher spot and the interior during the postseason, this program could very well cash in big time in the 2026 class once the ball really gets rolling.

Getting these highly touted targets on campus is always the goal for the coaching staff, and while most of the time that means the player is still deciding, Ohio State got word on Thursday that they would be hosting a five-star edge rusher currently committed elsewhere.

The No. 4 player nationally and top edge rusher per the 247Sports Composite, Maryland commit Zion Elee has only been off the market for two months now, but still has his mind open to taking official visits. As of now, he has five stops planned besides Maryland.

Planning to see Auburn, Penn State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Ohio State, the Buckeyes are one of the few remaining schools he’s at least keeping an open mind toward, and that bodes well for LJ, who has always recruited well when it comes to DMV natives. Plenty of work to be done, at least Ohio State will have a shot to host him on campus and prove why Columbus is the best place to be for development.