P.J. Fleck’s early work pays off with strong 2026 Gophers football recruiting class

P.J. Fleck’s philosophy when it comes to building a roster with high school recruits can be summed up by applying a Minnesota spin to an old proverb.

“A Gopher in hand is worth two in the bush.”

Fleck, the Gophers football coach, typically takes that “get them when you can” approach to collecting as many quality commitments as possible during the spring and early summer before a high school player’s senior season. In that pursuit, the Gophers usually get off to quick starts in the recruiting rankings, often residing in the top 20 or better nationally before other programs catch up or pass them during the summer and fall.

This year, though, Fleck has put together a recruiting class that’s showing staying power.

A day before Wednesday’s opening of the three-day early signing period for major college football, the Gophers were ranked No. 24 nationally and seventh among the 18 Big Ten teams in the 247Sports composite ratings of major recruiting services. Minnesota has 31 players pledged to this 2026 class, and it’s shaping up to finish as the highest-rated among Fleck’s 10 classes. His previous best was the 2024 group that was No. 36 in the final rankings and includes current standouts in safety Koi Perich and quarterback Drake Lindsey. The average finish of Fleck’s nine previous classes was No. 44.

“This will probably end up as Fleck’s best recruiting class because of two things,” said Ryan Burns, publisher of GopherIllustrated.com, a 247Sports affiliate that focuses on Minnesota recruiting. “No. 1, they do have star power at the top with guys like Howie Johnson, guys like Roman Voss. … And this is potentially Fleck’s biggest volume class. … The median kid in this class is [ranked] higher than it usually has been."

The final rankings for the 2026 recruiting class won’t be known until the end of the regular signing period, which begins Feb. 4. The vast majority of recruits, though, will sign during the early period.

This follows a 2025 class in which the Gophers landed the top three players in Minnesota, led by Cooper linebacker Emmanuel Karmo, and a 2024 class in which Esko’s Perich, the state’s No. 1 player who was heavily recruited by Ohio State all the way to early signing day, said no to the Buckeyes to stay home with the Gophers.

Burns pointed to the Gophers’ development of Boye Mafe, Brevyn Spann-Ford and Nick Kallerup, Minnesotans now in the NFL, as a big selling point for Fleck and his staff.

“It used to be that if you want to be an NFL draft pick and you want to win, you’ve gotta leave the state,” Burns said. “Well, they’ve proven that you can be developed here, and they’ll turn you into an NFL draft pick. The hope would be that these kids continue to elevate the ceiling of this program as well.”

Along with keeping Minnesota’s best in this class, the Gophers also sniped two of Wisconsin’s top three players in No. 1-ranked offensive tackle Gavin Meier of Janesville Parker High School, and No. 3 athlete Lamont Hamilton of Racine St. Catherine’s.

During the recently completed 7-5 regular season, the Gophers showed they need improve on both lines, and to that end they added five offensive linemen and six defensive linemen in this class.

Along with Johnson on the defensive line, edge rusher Aaden Aytch, a 6-4, 230-pounder from Lafayette, Ind., has a four-star pedigree, with 19½ sacks and 33½ tackles for loss in 2025.

The Gophers finished 131^st among the 136 FBS teams in offensive plays of 20 yards or longer. Part of that has to do with speed, and Fleck set out to make the Gophers faster through recruiting. Burns pointed to two players who could be difference-makers in that pursuit: running back Ryan Estrada from El Dorado High School in El Paso, Texas, and wide receiver Braiden Stevens of Platte City, Mo.

Estrada, who picked the Gophers over Michigan and Alabama, rushed for 7,195 yards and 90 TDs in his career for a Texas Class 5A team. Stevens, who decommitted from South Dakota State, ran a 10.38-second 100-meter dash last spring. He chose the Gophers over Nebraska and West Virginia. Voss, who led Jackson County Central to back-to-back Class 2A state titles while playing a variety of positions, will bring speed and versatility to the offense.

“[Offensive coordinator] Greg Harbaugh and P.J. Fleck knew they needed to get faster and needed to get more athletic,” Burns said.

Owen Lansu, a three-star quarterback from Downers Grove, Ill., committed to the Gophers in July of 2024 and was the only QB in the recruiting class until Saturday, when Brady Palmer of San Diego Cathedral Catholic flipped his commitment from California to the Gophers.

The final ratings won’t be the be-all, end-all of a recruiting class. What matters most is how well they develop and how well they perform on the field. You need to look no further than Fleck’s first class at Minnesota.