Maryland Football Lands In Top Five For 2027 Four-Star Edge Prospect
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The Maryland Terrapin football team has its sights on adding more talent to its 2027 recruiting class, and one of the top edge rushers out of the class has the Terps in their final five schools. Head coach Mike Locksley and defensive coordinator Ted Monachino will look to sway James Pace III to College Park and add to an already talented group.
NEWS: Four-Star EDGE James Pace is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @Rivals⁰
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) April 29, 2026
The 6’4 233 EDGE is ranked as the No. 3 EDGE in Maryland (per Rivals Industry)⁰⁰Where Should He Go?⁰⁰https://t.co/RVVfkXDXjI pic.twitter.com/V2kphCMhwf
Pace III, who attends the local DMV powerhouse program DeMatha, comes in at 6-foot-2 and-a-half inches and 225 pounds, and according to both 247Sports and 247Sports Composite, he's the 14th overall edge rusher in the 2027 class. 247sports has Pace III holding a 91 rating, the No. 3 best prospect out of Maryland and 101st best player nationally.
According to 247Sports, in 2025, Pace III finished with 81 total tackles and 14 sacks. Pace III was a key staple of DeMatha Catholic, who finished the season with a perfect 11-0 record, defending its WCAC Football Title against Gonzaga, 20-13. The WCAC title-clinching victory was the 26th in program history and the second straight year, a feat last accomplished by St. John's in 2022.
The other four teams featured on Pace III's list are Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Here's when he received official offers from the teams:
- February 24th, 2025: Tennessee Volunteers
- March 28th, 2025: Georgia Bulldogs
- May 8th, 2025: South Carolina Gamecocks
- March 13th, 2026: Auburn Tigers
But Locksley and the Terps may have the slight advantage ahead of the other teams at the moment, with Pace III officially set to visit the Terps on June 19th. However, he'll be visiting Syracuse beforehand on June 12th. It remains to be seen whether Pace III has any additional official visits set in stone or in the works, but those two are currently on the schedule.
At the moment, the Terps have only three players who have committed, all of whom are three-star prospects: wide receiver Davion Vanderbilt (Channelview, Texas), running back Mekhi Graham (Pottstown, Pennsylvania), and defensive back Levi Babin (Alexandria, Virginia). The 2027 class ranks 58th in the nation.
It'll be key during Pace III's visit to College Park that Locksley and staff show the vision of what they're trying to build in their program that features top talent in quarterback Malik Washington, tight end Dorian Fleming, and a stacked defensive line that features local five-star incoming recruit Zion Elee, Sidney Stewart, Zahir Mathis, and Cam Brickle II.
The Terps have had a tough past two seasons, resulting in finishes below .500 and no bowl appearances. It's a highly competitive conference in the Big Ten, so selling Pace III on competitiveness and on-field results will be another stepping stone in talks.
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Jaden's sports journalism career began at the College of Southern Maryland from 2022-2023, where he was brought in to cover baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball at CSM. In late 2023, he began interning at the University of Maryland Athletics Department as a contributing writer to help develop feature stories and game recaps. He also creates his own sports media content on professional Washington teams with LegacyMaker Sports Network.