Every day since joining the St. Frances football team, Zion Elee, rated the country’s top defensive end in the 2026 class by On3, is fiercely challenged.

In his sophomore year at Joppatowne, the 6-foot-4, 228-pound 5-star prospect ran circles around the competition, putting up staggering sack totals.

Playing for the No. 2 Panthers (6-3) this season has brought a brand new push.

Every practice, he lines up opposite fellow prized Division I offensive line prospects Mehki Cousar and Edward Baker. Week after week, another top-notch opponent appears on the Panthers’ daunting national schedule. Tonight, they host Florida-power IMG Academy at 7 p.m. at Morgan State.

Elee savors the daily grind.

“This season has really been a development year for me,” he said. “Everything that’s coming to me has been coming so fast and it’s been a blessing. I’m enjoying the ride.”

In recent years, the St. Frances program has produced a long list of havoc-wreaking ends who have excelled at that next level: Chris Braswell (Alabama/Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Eyabi Anoma (Alabama), Kingsley Jonathan (Syracuse/Buffalo Bills), Dashawn Womack (LSU) and Derrick Moore (Michigan), among others.

St. Frances defensive coordinator Justin Winters saw Elee come into the program with unique natural tools, noting his elite first step, bend and burst. Just as important, Elee has displayed a strong desire to get the most out of them with an eagerness to work hard, learn and hit the weight room and film study.

“When he first got here you could see the God-given tools he has — fast, big and strong, all the measurables,” Winters said. “I don’t think he was ever pushed and around players and coaches that are his peers like now instead of him being above and beyond everybody else. So that has made him work harder and playing the tough schedule we have, it was a learning curve for him.”

Elee’s breakthrough came from within. Heading into his sophomore year at Joppatowne, he made a concerted effort to change his confidence level.

“I started believing I was better than the person in front of me and that’s how I started dominating,” Elee said. “My confidence level went to a different level.”

That year at Joppatowne, he was all over the field in pursuit of quarterbacks, running backs and greatness. He finished with 64 tackles, including 24 for loss, and 13 sacks. The emergence came with college offers, currently at 35 with most every big-time program putting in bids. He recently told On3 that Oregon and Maryland are among his top options.

“I take it all as a blessing, but I just play because I love football,” he said. “I don’t look at rankings and being a five-star [recruit]; I know I still have to put in the work every single day.”

Those first days at St. Frances were difficult and Cousar and Baker often had the better of it in early practices. Not so much now.

“Playing opposite him every day makes me better and I make him better,” said Baker, a fellow junior who is drawing interest from Alabama, Miami, Tennessee and Virginia Tech, among others. “Him being so long and lengthy, that’s the biggest challenge. And he’s fast, so you don’t know whether he’s going to bring the power or bring the speed. I have to be ready for all the things he can bring.”

For coach Messay Hailemariam, Elee is a prime example of the program’s ultimate goal: develop young men to prepare them for the next level on and off the field.

“It’s the challenge of making a young man understand that to be in a place that is harder at the beginning is better for you,” he said. “Zion has unbelievable speed, strength and size and going up against the best in the country gives him a chance to put it in fast forward. You can better gauge where you are as a football player and also see how tough you are because you are going to have days that the average kid wouldn’t go through.”

With the Panthers taking a 6-3 mark into the showdown against IMG Academy, Elee is banking on another step forward. The program doesn’t total up individual stats until the season’s end, but he’s kept count of his sack total.

“I’ve got seven sacks right now and [defensive tackle] Darrion [Smith] now has eight, so I have some more work to do,” Elee said.

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