Four Gophers football commits land in updated Rivals top 300

We're only a few weeks away from early national signing day for the 2026 class.

Football Offensive Player of the Year El Dorado’s Ryan Estrada stands for a portrait on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, at the Don Haskins Recreation Center in West El Paso, Texas. | GABY VELASQUEZ/ EL PASO TIMES / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Rivals made a huge update to their high school class of 2026 recruiting rankings, and Minnesota now has four commits in the top 300. Here are the biggest takeaways.

Gophers football has four of their 2026 commits ranked in the updated Rivals top 300 for the class.

—Indiana DE Aaden Aytch saw a huge jump into the top 200, now a 4⭐️
—They rank Roman Voss as the No. 3 player in the state, behind Pierce Petersohn and Howie Johnson. pic.twitter.com/nzdO8LYtpp

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) November 17, 2025

Roman Voss ranked No. 3 in Minnesota

Jackson County Central (JCC) High School's star quarterback has an inside track at this year's Minnesota Mr. Football award. Voss has been viewed as the consensus No. 1 player in the state for quite a while, but Rivals bumped him below Pierce Petersohn, who recently reopened his recruitment, and Forest Lake defensive lineman Howie Johnson, who is committed to the Gophers.

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Voss is ranked as the 191st-best player in the state, according to 247Sports, and he's just inside the top 300, according to Rivals at No. 299. The vast difference in opinions seems notable.

Aaden Aytch continues to climb

When Aytch flipped his verbal commitment from Northern Illinois to Minnesota on June 1, he was a bit of an unknown. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound edge rusher from Indiana jumped into the Rivals top 300 in July, and he's now in the top 200 at No. 193. He's outside the top 500 in their industry rankings, and the fifth-highest-ranked recruit in Minnesota's class, according to the 247Sports Composite. His boost is another ranking from Rivals that is much different than the consensus.

Three consensus four-star recruits

Minnesota now has three players committed to its 2026 class, who are viewed as four-star recruits by Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN. Rocori's Andrew Trout is outside the top 300 on Rivals, but he's still a four-star recruit. Trout, Voss and Johnson all hail from Minnesota, and they're all consensus four-star recruits, making one of the most highly-touted in-state recruiting classes in the history of Gophers football.

Other notes

Petersohn's reopened recruitment continues to be a huge storyline before early national signing day next month. He originally committed to Penn State over Minnesota, in large part due to the Nittany Lions recruiting him as a tight end. The Gophers initially recruited him as a linebacker, and they have three tight ends currently committed to their class, so the position aspect will certainly play a factor.

Minnesota's class ranks as the 31st-best in the country, according to Rivlas, and the 28th-best, according to 247Sports. There are still a lot of dominoes left to fall, but it's an impressive level of talent acquisition from P.J. Fleck and his staff.