What's Minnesota's 2026 recruiting outlook after recent wave of commitments?

The Gophers added verbal commitments from four players since Monday night.

Nov 1, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Michigan State Spartans runs a play against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the second half at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Gophers added verbal commitments from three 2026 recruits on Monday, and one more on Wednesday. They landed a running back, a wide receiver and two offensive linemen. Let's break down how it impacts their 2026 class as a whole, with early national signing day less than one month away.

Aaron Thomas, OL (Phoenix, AZ)

Minnesota heavily pursued Thomas before evenutally getting beat out by Ohio State and some of the big boys. Thomas decomitted from the Buckeyes on November 3, and the Gophers' previous relationship helped land his commitment. As a borderline top 500 prospect, he's the third top 50 offensive tackles committed to their class.

Jett Walker, RB (Georgetown, TX)

Walker is the most highly-touted recruit out of the three commitments on Monday. The latest 247Sports Composite rankings have him as the 694th-best prospect in the country, which is the ninth-highest-ranked player in Minnesota's 2026 class. He joins four-star recruit Ryan Estrada from El Paso, Texas and Malvern, Pennsylvania's Ezekiel Bates as the third running back commit in the Gophers' class. First-year running backs coach Jayden Everett has built quite the group in his first high school recruiting cycle on the job.

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Braiden Stevens, WR (Platte County, MO)

Stevens originally committed to South Dakota State, but backed off that decision in late September. He quickly rose up recruiting boards with interest from Lousiville, Nebraska and West Virginia, but Minnesota swooped in and landed his verbal commitment after an official visit. At 5-foot-8, he doesn't have measurements that will jump off the page, but he's a dynamic athlete.

The latest 247Sports Composite slots him as one of the lowest-ranked recruits in Minnesota's class, but I wouldn't be shocked to see that number rise. He joins Newberry, Florida's Hayden Moore and Rico Blassingame from Tolleson, Arizona as the third wide receiver commit in the Gophers' class.

Beckett Schreiber, OL (Madison, WI)

Minnesota lost a pair of offensive line commits from Daniel McMorris and Mataalii Benjamin, so it makes sense that they would look to refill that position. Schreiber has been committed to Washington State since June, but he recently received heavy interest from the Gophers and Indiana. He ranks well behind Andrew Trout and Gavin Meier, but near Lucas Tielsch on most recruiting services. He's another player who could continue to rise over the next month.

Overall class

The four recent commitments now give Minnesota 28 total players in its 2026 class. Based on sheer volume, it would be the biggest high school class in P.J. Fleck's tenure as Gophers head coach. 247Sports currently ranks it as the 29th-best class in the country, which would also be Fleck's best with the program. The current leader in the clubhouse is the 2024 class, which ranked 33rd in the country. It seems like a toss-up for whether or not this cycle will stay ranked higher, so it will be an interesting finish before early national signing day in the first week of December.