Top-10 center recruit lists Gonzaga in his final schools

The Bulldogs have made the final cut for the 6-foot-11 prospect

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few and his program will host four-star recruit Sam Funches on an official visit in October.

One of the top-rated high school center prospects in the 2026 class is considering Gonzaga as his college destination.

The Bulldogs have made the final cut for 6-foot-11 prospect Sam Funches, according to 247Sports. The four-star recruit is down to Gonzaga, LSU, Cal, Vanderbilt, Jackson State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Kansas and Penn State.

Funches has seven official visits lined up over the next three months, starting with a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, on Aug. 1 to see Mark Byington and the Commodores, and ending with a excursion out to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a visit with Matt McMahon and the Tigers on Oct. 10. Prior to his LSU visit, Funches will be in Spokane from Oct. 3-5 on his official visit to Gonzaga, coinciding with the Bulldogs' annual Kraziness in the Kennel event.

Xavier (Aug. 22), Kansas State (Aug. 29), TCU (Sept. 19) and Mississippi State (Sept. 26) have also arranged visits with Funches, who's also been on official visits with Ole Miss, Kansas and Cal.

A product of Germantown High School (Mississippi), Funches has been tabbed by 247Sports as the No. 1 player from Mississippi and the No. 10 center recruit in the 2026 class. He's also earned a top-100 grade, checking in as the No. 98-ranked prospect nationally, and a four-star rating from ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals.

Germantown Mavericks' center Sam Funches (32) listens to Head Coach Chris Love on the sidelines during a timeout in the game against the Tupelo Golden Wave at Germantown High School in Madison, Miss., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. | Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK

In addition to his finalists, Funches' offer sheet includes Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Creighton, Indiana, Michigan, NC State, Missouri, SMU and Texas A&M, among others.

Funches, who missed out on a visit with the Zags that was previously set for February, will instead have a front row seat for an early look at the 2025-26 team. Kraziness has long served as a major recruiting tool for Mark Few and company, with star-studded prospects like Braden Huff (2021), Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs and Julian Strawther (2019) committing to Gonzaga after experiencing the Bulldogs' preseason festivities for themselves.

Gonzaga hasn't announced details regarding the next Kraziness event, though it'll presumably take place during the school's fall family weekend, which is held annually during the first weekend of October.

NEWS: Sam Funches, a four-star big man in the class of 2026, is now down to 10 schools, @247Sports is told.

Finalists:

- Gonzaga
- LSU
- Cal
- Vanderbilt
- JSU
- Ole Miss
- Mississippi State
- Kansas State
- Kansas
- Penn Statehttps://t.co/UmhfPPUlGr pic.twitter.com/aMT0XQCUPW

— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) July 24, 2025