Maryland football continued to add to one of its best recruiting classes in recent memory on Friday. Four-star North Caroline (Md.) athlete Zymear Smith committed to the Terps live on 247Sports’ YouTube channel, adding a gem to Mike Locksley’s impressive haul.
Smith, a 6-foot, 170-pound rising senior, is rated the No. 11 athlete and No. 279 player in the country in the Composite Rankings and the No. 8 in-state player in a talent-laden Class of 2025 crop in Maryland. As a junior, he earned all-state honors as a running back, carrying the ball 71 times for 609 yards and seven touchdowns while also catching nine passes for 380 yards and four touchdowns. He also totaled 20 tackles, seven breakups and three interceptions on defense and returned two punts for touchdowns.
Committed to Alabama at the time, he decided to flip his commitment to Maryland during his official visit to College Park a month ago, he told InsideMDSports. Co-defensive coordinator Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, who returned to Maryland from Boston College in January, was a major factor in flipping Smith from Bama.
“Coach Aazaar, he had already sent me an offer from Boston College and he’s always been hitting me up. When he went to Maryland, he was on me [immediately]. Even though I was committed to Alabama, they were always checking on me, making sure my grades were good and investing in me, doing things they didn’t need to do,” said Smith, who had a long list of offers from blueblood programs like Alabama, Georgia and Texas. He chose Maryland over finalists Penn State and South Carolina.
“I’d be crazy not to commit to them and give them my all,” he said of Maryland.
Locksley is enjoying one of Maryland’s best recruiting cycles in decades, thanks largely to Spalding (Md.) four-star Malik Washington, the No. 10 quarterback in the country. Washington, Locksley’s highest-rated quarterback commit since he returned to Maryland in 2019, has been recruiting on Maryland’s behalf. He and Smith spent much of that official visit weekend together in June and have stayed in contact since. Previously committed to Bama as a cornerback, he’ll instead team with Washington on offense at Maryland.
He plans to enroll early at Maryland, arriving for the second semester of the upcoming school year to get a head start on acclimating.
Maryland football’s 2025 recruiting class now includes four players rated as four-stars in the 247Sports Composite, and several three-stars near four-star status. The Terps are positioned to add several more highly touted recruits, and Smith plans to help with that.
“I’m gonna hit Malik up and we’re gonna get to work until we get there. I’m gonna hit [other recruits] up and slide into the DMs,” he said. “We’re gonna lock in.”
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