Quarterback committed to major college football program earns 5-star status

For the final time of this cycle, the 2026 recruiting class rankings saw an update.

On Tuesday, Rivals took to X to showcase its new top 32 recruits, all of whom garner a five-star ranking. The breakdown of the rankings seems to be representative of the direction that college football is headed as 13 of the five-stars are headed to a Big Ten program, 11 to an SEC program, five are going to Notre Dame, two to a Big 12 program and just one heading to an ACC program.

There were also 12 recruits who earned their fifth star, with one of those being a quarterback that is Alabama-bound.

As shared to X, Alabama quarterback commit Jett Thomalla, out of Omaha, Nebraska saw his ranking jump from No. 47 in Rivals' 300 rankings to No. 24. Following a strong senior season, one Rivals scout revealed that Thomalla was simply doing so many things that others in the class outside of the top two, could not.

“The more and more we watched the quarterback group, outside of the top two being Jared Curtis and Keisean Henderson, we felt more and more that Jett Thomalla made a really strong case as the No. 3 quarterback in the cycle," wrote the Rivals scout . Thomalla had a fantastic senior season, threw for 58 touchdowns, he’s the best QB prospect to come from Nebraska in recent memory."

"While he played on a loaded team that really didn’t play many close games in 2025, when you watch the arm talent and the ability to make difficult throws, I’m not sure that anyone besides Curtis and Henderson put better difficult throws on film than Thomalla."

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer. — Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer looks on in the second half against the Indiana Hoosiers. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The 6-foot-4 and 200-pound quarterback committed to the Iowa State Cyclones back in April of 2025, picking them over programs like Missouri, Duke, Arizona and Virginia Tech.

However, Alabama didn't let his commitment to Iowa State deter them, as they offered him one month after his commitment. Thomalla eventually flipped his commitment from Iowa State to Alabama in June, signing with the program in December and enrolling earlier this month.

While he has some catching up to do, Thomalla will have a chance to contend for the starting spot right away, as Alabama's Ty Simpson is off to the NFL. With that being said, he will have to outduel 2025 five-star quarterback Keelon Russell and veteran quarterback Austin Mack, who served as the primary backup to Simpson this past season.

Although Alabama fans may not always be pleased with the product DeBoer is putting on the field, they can't deny that he isn't attracting top quarterback talents.