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QB Dominoes: What recent commitments mean for 2026 recruiting

Brady Smigiel
Brady Smigiel (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

In the last few days, Texas landed four-star quarterback Dia Bell and Michigan received a commitment from four-star Brady Hart. With those two names off the board, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney breaks down all the big 2026 quarterbacks and where things now stand with each.

RELATED: Is Brady Hart the biggest commitment of Sherrone Moore era? | Five QB storylines for the Rivals Five-Star | Takeaways from Elite 11

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Tennessee is the team to beat in Brandon’s recruitment as he’s had great communication with that staff and that’s a situation where he could go in, sit behind Nico Iamaleava and then compete for the starting job.

LSU is also a serious contender but one wonders if coming in behind five-star Bryce Underwood is desirable for the Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley standout.

Alabama, Florida State and others are also in play.

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There has been no significant movement in his recruitment as the four-star from Nashville (Tenn.) Christian remains happily committed to Georgia but Ohio State and Oregon are not giving up here.

New Buckeyes offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was the first coach to reach out on June 15 and the Ducks were second. It’s something to monitor but the Bulldogs still look good.

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Texas was the top school for Huhn but then the Longhorns took a commitment from Bell on Monday and that threw a wrench in a lot of plans. But the San Marcos (Calif.) Mission Hills four-star standout was at Ohio State on Tuesday and spent a lot of time with new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.

Huhn “loved” the visit to Columbus and he now feels “really serious” about the Buckeyes as he moves forward in his recruitment.

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USC and Oregon are the frontrunners for the five-star quarterback from Folsom, Calif., and now with his brother, Walker, back from his Mormon mission that has to help the Trojans even more. Both offenses are very pass-friendly and both had first-round NFL Draft picks in Caleb Williams and Bo Nix so both programs have the bona fides.

The only real question now is whether Lyons wants to sit behind or compete with Julian Lewis if he sticks with the Trojans. Auburn is working to flip Lewis and depending on who you talk to that is either definitely happening or unlikely to happen so that could play a factor down the stretch.

But Lyons could also take a shorter mission and this could all play out well for USC.

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The new Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne four-star quarterback has been touring the country in recent weeks and seeing a lot of schools but Oklahoma remains the team to watch in his recruitment.

The Sooners have intrigued O’Neal for a long time as he’s developed strong relationships with everyone on that staff, especially OC Seth Littrell.

This gets a little more interesting because the Sooners are also high on Orlando (Fla.) Jones four-star Dereon Coleman so there is a little balancing act to consider there.

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The five-star quarterback has had Florida State and Michigan as his frontrunners, with many other schools involved, and now with Hart picking the Wolverines, that has to help the Seminoles.

The Newbury Park, Calif., standout is a coach’s son and has talked highly of his relationship with FSU coach Mike Norvell and position coach Tony Tokarz. One thing that’s super important when it comes down to decision time is which coaching staff has been the most engaged and shown the most love. FSU is definitely among that group.

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