Three takeaways from the 2026 high school football signing cycle
What the December and February signing periods have revealed about local recruiting battles, powerhouse high school programs, and the talent landscape in Missouri and Kansas.
It is hard to believe, but it has been nearly a decade since February was not the month we saw the flurry of high school football players’ decisions on where they would take their talents to the next level.
With the early signing period in December, universities ink their incoming freshmen for the most part then. That was Dec. 3-5, 2025, this year. This was done years ago to make way for kids to enroll early for the collegiate spring practices, if they so choose to.
That said, Feb. 4 marked the beginning of the traditional signing period, and now is the time when programs fill their final roster spots, with some signings still trickling in. Teams can also still use the transfer portal to round out their classes, which has changed how February is viewed across the sport.
Even with fewer headlines and fewer announcements than in years past, this window still offers a useful snapshot of the high school football landscape in Missouri and Kansas. Whether it is elite prospects choosing to stay close to home, powerhouse programs sending multiple players to the same destination, or a clear gap between the top of the class and the rest of the field, both of this year’s signing periods revealed a few notable trends worth examining.
Here are three takeaways from the 2026 high school recruiting cycle across the region.
Local prospects staying home
One of the clearest trends of this recruiting cycle was top-end local prospects opting to stay close to home. In an era defined by constant roster turnover and aggressive portal use, regional programs have placed a renewed emphasis on building trust pipelines within their own borders, and the results have shown.
Collegiate coaches will tell you, over and over again, the importance of keeping local athletes home. Nothing hurts worse than a prospect in your own backyard leaving to find success elsewhere around the country, if you can avoid it.
Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri all did a solid job of this. According to 247, the Jayhawks brought home the top recruit from Salina Central, offensive tackle Kaden Snyder (four stars).
They did not stop there, though. They kept three-star recruits such as Hunter Higgins (edge out of Wichita), Josh Galbreath (linebacker, Lawrence), Nate Sims (wide receiver, Ottawa), Tyren Parker (wide receiver, Shawnee Heights), and Jaylen Mason (quarterback out of Wichita), in-state. They also brought tight ends Kevin Sullivan and Jack Utz from Rockhurst and Platte County, respectively, over from the Missouri side.
Speaking of flipping outgoing seniors from the Missouri side, the Wildcats captured three of them. Three stars Bennett Fraser (offensive line, Kirksville), Nick McClellan (safety, CBC), and Garrick Dixon (cornerback, Fort Zumwalt West) are all headed to Manhattan.
New head coach Collin Klein also kept three of the top 20 prospects in the Sunflower state. Four-star athlete Lawson McGraw (Blue Valley) and three stars Arley Morrell (tight end, Pratt) and Lamarcus Barber (offensive line, Mill Valley) all stayed put.
The Tigers did not manage to swap any prospects with the state of Kansas, but they did land eight of the top 30 recruits in the state of Missouri. All eight are three-star prospects: Bryalon Ellison (offensive line, Booneville), Keenan Harris (safety, St. Louis), Brysen Wessell (offensive line, Jackson), Trashundon Neal (safety, Liberty North), Jacques Felix (defensive line, St. Louis), Preston Hatfield (running back, Lees Summit), Karsten Fiene (wide receiver, Lees Summit) and Graham Faust (safety, St. Louis).
Platte County
Few high school programs in the region had a signing period as impactful as Platte County. Fresh off multiple state championships, the Pirates capped off a dominant run by sending four players from this year’s senior class who were three-star or better, a rare feat at the high school level and a testament to the program’s consistency.
This is a special class for many reasons. They left school having not lost since Nov. 10, 2023, for one. They went 28-0 over their junior and senior seasons, capping it off with an overtime thriller against Carthage to seal off back-to-back state championships.
Quarterback Rocco Marriott headlines the class as one of UCF’s top signees, the third-highest-rated prospect in Missouri and the 22nd-ranked quarterback nationally. Head coach Scott Frost found a gem from the Midwest with Marriott’s more than 10,000 yards and 160 career touchdowns for the Pirates.
The Knights also snagged one of Platte County’s highly touted tight ends, with three-star recruit Brooks Hall. The other piece of the duo in the Pirates’ two-tight end sets, Jack Utz, stayed local. Lance Leipold landed Kansas’ 16th-best recruit and the 63rd nationally ranked tight end.
The area’s Otis Taylor award winner, recognizing the best pass catcher in Kansas City, Braiden Stevens, will be heading up north. His 64 receptions for 1,189 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns earned him an opportunity to play Big Ten football with Minnesota.
Aside from those four reaching unseen heights from a school like Platte County, the Pirates also sent defensive end Cale Buntz to South Dakota State and Adam Gisler to Northwest Missouri State.
Missouri vs. Kansas
While Missouri produced a deeper overall recruiting class, Kansas stood out for its concentration of elite talent at the top. The state’s highest-rated prospects commanded national attention, with several drawing interest and commitments from major programs outside the region.
That list starts with none other than the number one tight end in the country, Great Bend’s Ian Premer. After a highly sought-after recruitment process, Premer latched on to Notre Dame’s 2026 class, with Kansas and Kansas State as runner-ups, along with Iowa State.
The top of Kansas’ class rounds out with JJ Dunnigan (safety, Manhattan), Snyder, and Maxwell Robinson (offensive linemen, Derby), along with McGraw: all four stars who signed with Miami, Kansas, Georgia State, and Kansas State, respectively.
This is going to happen with two major cities in Missouri, but Missouri’s advantage lies in volume, with a broader pool of college-capable players spread across multiple talent levels and programs.
Missouri has 45 consensus three-star prospects, compared to Kansas’ 21. Missouri still has plenty of talent at the top, including Nixa’s five-star offensive tackle, Jackson Cantwell, who is going to Miami. On the Kansas City side, Ray Pec’s running back, DeZephen Walker, a four-star, is heading to Norman to play for Oklahoma. Ronelle Johnson, a Blue Springs edge rusher, is heading to Indiana to play for the national champs.
Other Kansas City Metro prospects heading to power five programs include Braden Wilmes to Clemson (offensive line, Lawrence), Drake DeBaun to Iowa State (tight end, Shawnee Mission South), Trace Rudd to Oklahoma (kicker, Blue Valley Northwest), and Jacob Miller to Northwest (offensive line, Hamilton).
Even in a quieter February window, this year’s signing period underscored the strength of high school football across the region, from elite talent at the top to programs building sustained success year after year.