Haley Van Voorhis’ journey into college football history
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Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer
WINCHESTER, Va. — More than a decade after her three-year run as a Washington Commanders cheerleader was over, Heidi Van Voorhis never lost interest in the team. A mother of two working in marketing, she’d take her young family to Jack Kent Cooke Stadium whenever possible. At home in their small Virginia town west of Washington, she’d find the time to watch the team’s games on TV.
She can close her eyes and still picture her daughter, a toddler, sitting on the floor and studying the sport on screen, growing more and more enamored by what she saw. Haley was always quiet, but one day she turned to her mom with a pointed question: “Why aren’t there any girls on the field?”
Heidi was at a loss.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know why.”
Heidi could have said that girls weren’t allowed, and it might have changed everything. But she didn’t, leaving open a path that would culminate in her daughter becoming a pioneer in the sport. On Saturday, Haley, a junior safety at Division III Shenandoah University, appeared in her first game, becoming the first woman in NCAA history to compete at a non-kicking position. She was in for one play, helping to force a three-and-out by getting pressure on the Juniata quarterback. The following day, Shenandoah coach Scott Yoder said he hoped her role would increase: “Yesterday was certainly a huge moment in her path, but her path keeps going.”
As a child, Van Voorhis was more surprised by the lack of girls playing football than discouraged by it. Looking back, Heidi said, “I guess she didn’t take it as if there couldn’t be any.”
There were other signs, like how one Christmas, Heidi’s parents gave Haley and her brother, Claiborne, a set of Washington uniforms — a football player’s and a cheerleader’s. They ended up giving away the skirt and pompoms.
“It still had the tag on it and never got worn,” Heidi recalled. “She absconded her brother’s football uniform very early on and wore it for years.”
Chandler, Haley’s father, remembers going to Washington games when Haley was a child and how she’d tell the family, “One day I’m going to be on the field as a player.”
“That’s always been in her,” he said. “I think part of this is just kind of who she is.”
It was always so matter-of-fact, the way Haley moved from flag football in elementary school to tackle football in the sixth grade. She became the first girl to play football at her high school, Christchurch. And when the boys hit their growth spurts, she responded by spending countless hours in the gym to get bigger and stronger. She knew that to have a chance to play in college she had to get faster, so her family hired a trainer to improve her speed. She earned all-state honorable mention as a junior in 2019 before seeing her senior season canceled due to COVID-19.
She wasn’t bothered when some boys refused to tackle her. Other parents would whisper about the little blonde girl playing such a violent game, but Heidi and Chandler didn’t pay them any mind. They didn’t buy into the notion that women were more fragile than men. Besides, they had neighbors who let their kids ride horses and every once in a while they read about someone who fell off and died; that seemed scarier than football to them.
All they wanted was for their children to find something they were passionate about — to find their dream and follow it. To see her put in the work to make that happen and earn a spot on a college team, Chandler said, “It’s the best feeling in the world.”
“Even the days I didn’t want to [train], I was like, ‘But if I don’t, I’m not going to get anywhere,'” Haley said. “Being the first made me do extra because I wanted it more than anything.”
BYRON MITCHELL WAS in charge of the shuttle station at a recruiting camp on a cold December day in 2020. The assistant coach from Shenandoah watched kids rotate in, darting back and forth, back and forth, between the orange cones.
There were about 150 prospects trying to capture the attention of coaches from Division II and Division III colleges. But only one player caught Mitchell’s eye.
“I don’t think it was her being a female,” Mitchell said of Van Voorhis, who played receiver and defensive back. “That’s what stuck out, her appearance.”
As in, how muscular she was.
If only Mitchell knew what it took to become the 145-pound ball of muscle he saw. Van Voorhis’ parents had watched in awe as their daughter turned into a workout warrior in high school. Then, when COVID-19 canceled her senior season, she became even more obsessed, training around the clock at home. She worked with weights and resistance bands in the garage, ran sprints in the driveway, did ladder drills in the backyard. She spent hours researching different diets online and how to add weight, lamenting that most were geared toward the physiology of men rather than women.
She signed up for a speed-training class, and when the neighborhood gyms opened back up, she seemingly spent every waking hour there. Chandler pointed to the Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” as Haley’s inspiration, specifically the moment when a young Jordan is getting beaten up by the more physical Detroit Pistons and the decision he made to transform his body and take his game to the next level.
“That made an impression on her,” Chandler said. “If you had a camera in our house during that lockdown, you would have thought this was Gold’s Gym for 6-7 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Mitchell thought Van Voorhis had adequate speed but superb technique. “Almost picture perfect,” he said. While most players would finish the shuttle drill by pulling up the split second it was over, Van Voorhis would run through the line, which meant something to him.
During a break, a coach from Wagner sidled up to Mitchell. “You won’t believe who caught the ball better than anyone,” he said.
Mitchell knew. When the camp was over, he found Van Voorhis and handed her a business card.
And that might have been the end of it had Mitchell not felt compelled to ask a simple question: “What’s your goal?”
“It was her response that really triggered all this,” he said. “She said, ‘Coach, I just want to play Division III football.'”
Mitchell said most players he recruits don’t picture themselves in Division III. Some are modest enough to shoot for Division II, but most imagine themselves in the FBS, formerly known as Division I. When Mitchell tells someone he has a spot for them at Shenandoah, they usually hold out for a scholarship offer elsewhere.
“That just told me that she’s confident in herself, but she’s very, very humble,” he said. “She knows where she is and she knew where she fit in. And I thought the world of that.”
As Mitchell got ready to make the two-hour drive home, he stopped and looked Van Voorhis up on Twitter. He found her highlights and was impressed. If she wasn’t a girl, he thought, everyone would be recruiting her. He said he arrived at a conclusion: “Haley deserves to play college football.”
Mitchell wasn’t looking to make history when he followed up and invited her to campus. For a while, he kept his interest in recruiting Van Voorhis to himself.
But one day, he pulled aside defensive coordinator Brock McCullough to tell him about Van Voorhis. McCullough had been Mitchell’s position coach at Shenandoah and was about to begin his 18th season with the university.
“Why don’t you recruit her?” McCullough asked matter-of-factly. “I mean, are you not going to recruit her?”
Mitchell looked at him, surprised.
“Yeah,” he said, expecting an argument and instead getting a green light. “I am.”
McCullough nodded.
“I don’t see why not,” he said before moving on with his day.
A few weeks later, Mitchell stood in the doorway of head coach Scott Yoder’s office and explained what was happening — how Van Voorhis and her parents were on their way for a visit, and to be prepared.
Mitchell left and Yoder pulled up Van Voorhis’ highlights, agreeing with Mitchell’s assessment. He liked how she got up to top speed quickly.
The only question Yoder had was, “Why?” He wanted to know why football was important to her and whether she and her family were in it for the right reasons.
“They’re legit,” he said. “This is not some type of attention grab, because at the end of the day all I want to do is coach college football. I don’t want the circus, I don’t want the distractions, because at the end of the day we’ve got a team. There’s 115 kids on the team.”
Once Van Voorhis committed, the only thing Yoder had to figure out was logistics — what accommodations would need to be made to ensure her privacy. Yoder’s first thought was to find a room at the stadium for her to dress in, but Van Voorhis didn’t want to be removed from the team, which dressed at the football facility a half-mile walk from the field.
Symbolically, Yoder thought, that said a lot about Van Voorhis. Because the locker room was where connections were made. And it’s where, when it’s game time, the players gather to walk to the stadium — as a single unit, as a team.
Van Voorhis didn’t want to miss any of that. So she changed in a training room one floor up from the locker room; that way she could be nearby when it was time for the coaches to address the team and for everyone to leave for practice and games.
It’s all she has ever wanted — to play the game she loved, to compete and to be a part of something bigger than herself.
The media attention that comes with that isn’t what she said she’s after. If anything, she’s uncomfortable in the spotlight. Shy around strangers, she turned down a number of opportunities to share her story, even though in the age of name, image and likeness, she could have monetized her journey.
A blend of quiet and confident — “determined” is the word Yoder uses — Van Voorhis said she’s a doer and not a talker.
“I like proving it,” she said. “It’s really cool being the first, but there’s something inside of me saying that I haven’t done anything here yet.”
If she wanted to take the easy route, Shenandoah was not it.
If all Yoder and the school wanted was to make history, they would have done it two years ago.
Van Voorhis needed time to get healthy and develop as a football player. Which is why she said she was so confident coming into this season. She felt herself improving and getting stronger between her sophomore and junior years. “Great things happen when you work hard,” she said matter-of-factly.
“At the core of this thing is a young person chasing their dream and earning an opportunity and taking advantage of an opportunity that they earned,” Yoder said. “If you asked anybody on our team, they might not use the same words, but they’re going to tell you she’s a great teammate. She does everything that’s asked of her — she’s in the weight room, she’s at practice, she’s working hard, she’s getting better.”
TRAMMEL ANTHONY, a former Shenandoah defensive back, remembers getting a text during the summer of 2021 about a girl joining their team. His response: “Bro, what position does she play?”
He was relieved when he found out she’d be playing safety rather than receiver, believing defense was the safer and more palatable option.
“Nobody is going to want to see a woman get hit over and over again,” he said.
He wound up following Van Voorhis on Twitter and watched some of her highlights that day. Then he sent her a direct message, welcoming her to Shenandoah. He thought the whole thing was “pretty cool.”
While Anthony admits that some of his teammates were in a sort of “wait-and-see mode” about Van Voorhis at first, their attitude changed quickly once summer conditioning began. The most grueling test was the 110-yard sprints — 16 sets with only 45 seconds of rest in between.
As a freshman, Anthony remembers struggling to keep up.
“If you’re out of shape,” he said, “it’s brutal.”
Van Voorhis made it on her first try. Competing among the skill players, who have the most difficult target time to reach, she was one of only a few freshmen to make her time on all 16 sprints.
Anthony was impressed.
“She went from the top half to the top third to the top quarter,” he recalled. “And her pace never changed.”
Yoder looked on.
“You knew she took it seriously,” he said. “That’s my moment when we came off the field like, ‘She’s prepared.'”
Not that it was always easy for Van Voorhis. She said she was nervous in the beginning. She’d been on campus only a few days and was thrown in the deep end — trying to learn the playbook while going against players 3-4 years older than her.
And like any freshman, she got burned. During one practice, two receivers were set to one side of the field — one ran an underneath route, one ran a post. Van Voorhis bit on the underneath route and watched helplessly as the ball sailed over her head for a would-be touchdown.
McCullough pulled her aside, reminding her to let the linebackers clean up the short passes. It was her job to guard the deep part of the field.
Two plays later, the offense ran the same play, Van Voorhis stayed deep and took away the post.
A few days later, on a similar play, Van Voorhis backpedaled, jumped up and high-pointed a pass, snatching it from the receiver. She landed hard on her back, securing one of the first interceptions of camp.
Mentally, McCullough said, “She’s elite.” She may be only 145 pounds, but he said that pound for pound, she’s among the strongest players on the team.
And she’s tough. McCullough noticed how she played through what he thought was a broken wrist as a freshman and never said a word to anyone about it.
“She just feels like one of the guys on the team,” Anthony said. “Like it’s nothing, no one special, just like she’s one of us.”
That’s all Van Voorhis could ask for. While her teammates acknowledge that she is a woman, she said, they never dwell on it. She credited their positive energy and the culture of the program for snuffing out any potential awkwardness.
“We fit perfectly,” she said.
Watching from the sidelines that first year, she said she learned about pulling through difficult situations and how the game takes more mental toughness than physical — “more than you would think.”
As a freshman, she was confident her time was coming. She just didn’t know when.
“Maybe not yet this year,” she said at the time, “but later if I keep working at it, getting more reps.”
TWO YEARS LATER, Van Voorhis came running off the sidelines and into the game for the first time.
Against Juniata on Saturday, with Shenandoah leading 21-0 in the first quarter, coaches called for No. 10 to go in. Van Voorhis popped in her mouthguard, lined up near the line of scrimmage and sprinted off the edge, making a beeline for the quarterback, who hurriedly threw an incompletion before getting wrapped up and tackled to the turf by Van Voorhis.
The public address announcer called out Van Voorhis’ quarterback hurry and the crowd lit up in applause. Van Voorhis hustled back to the sideline, where senior safety Quante Redd waited to congratulate her, along with a handful of other teammates on defense. David Agyei, who helps coach linebackers, walked over and gave her a high-five. She didn’t play the rest of the game.
It didn’t hit Yoder right away what had taken place. He was too preoccupied with the flow of the game, which was affected by a storm passing through the area.
“I knew she was in,” he said, “but it didn’t really register with me until after everything happened and the energy from the crowd and our players’ reaction on the sideline. I was just like, ‘Wow, that just happened.'”
It didn’t register to Van Voorhis at first, either, because at the end of the day she said she was doing something natural: playing the game she loved since she was a child. But then it dawned on her what she’d done.
“Not just for my team but for the whole community of people behind me,” she said. “Nobody’s ever done this before, so it’s just cool to be able to do something so big that can impact so many people after you, and just make history.”
After the game, Van Voorhis found her parents outside the stadium. Dad gave her a big bear hug. Mom clenched her jaw and fought back tears. “So proud,” she said.
“You don’t have to cry,” Van Voorhis replied. “It’s not that emotional.”
Mom wasn’t having that.
“It’s a big deal,” she said. “It’s a long road.”
Van Voorhis and her parents knew two years ago that it might take time to get here. What they couldn’t know was how difficult her freshman season would be: how she’d contract COVID and miss 10 days; how she’d be sick on and off for weeks after that; how she’d find out that the wrist pain she was playing through was actually a torn ligament that required surgery. Recovery took months, knocking her out of spring practice. And by the time she was cleared, she’d lost so much muscle that it felt like she was starting from scratch in the weight room.
Truth be told, Van Voorhis said, she felt cursed.
“It’s a lot,” she explained, “because coming in, just being the only female, it’s probably enough adversity.”
In the grand scheme of things, she acknowledged that injuries are normal.
“But it’s just stress added on when you don’t need it,” she said. “And that’s the situation: Everyone’s waiting for you to quit or give up.”
It wasn’t something anyone specifically said or did that made her feel that way. Van Voorhis reiterated that her coaches and teammates have been great. Shenandoah, she said, is home.
But even though she stays away from social media — she has a grand total of four Instagram posts — she knows there’s negativity lurking online. She saw what Sarah Fuller went through at Vanderbilt, becoming the first woman to score a point at the Power 5 level as a place-kicker in 2020, and the white-hot microscope she was under.
Asked what advice she’d give to little girls who want to do what she has done, Van Voorhis said they should not expect it to be easy.
“You can’t even expect it to generally be hard,” she said. “It’s going to be hard-hard. Like extremely hard, mentally, because everyone can be physically prepared for something. But when you go into something and you’re not the same as anyone else, it adds pressure. You’re noticed everywhere you go. There’s a lot of pressure to not only live up to your own standards but the ones around you. From my experience, you have to have a new level of mental toughness to be able to go through that pressure and play football.
“Because you can’t take plays off. And, honestly, you can’t mess up. In my opinion, it’s like you can’t let the girl mess up one play because then everyone knows. But if a guy messes up, mistakes happen, it’s fine.”
Van Voorhis said there’s nothing wrong with shooting for perfection. It’s just a lot to deal with.
“My best advice is, just don’t hold back anything, make the most of the opportunity,” she said.
McCullough called Van Voorhis a “pioneer.” He said he has a teenage daughter who is interested in football and inspired by Van Voorhis’ journey.
“It’s really neat to see,” he said. “You know it’s coming. In 10-15 years from now things will be a lot different.”
Case in point: In the past year, Yoder has had two football coaches reach out who are recruiting women. If they’re as genuine as Van Voorhis and her family, Yoder said, they’ll be fine.
Now that the not-so-small matter of making history is out of the way, Van Voorhis is moving forward.
“Now that I’ve hit a goal, I have to make my next one,” she said. “I mean, that’s what it’s always been. It’s always just striving to be a better football player. Once I play, I want to play more.”
She wants to get better.
She wants to get on the bus as part of the travel roster.
She wants to keep playing football this year and next year and however long it lasts.
“I mean, at the end of the day,” she said, “I’m just doing this because I love the game.”
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Eli Lederman
College football coaching staffs are off the trail. Top recruits are flocking to campuses across the country. At long last, official visit season is here.
The busiest stretch of the annual recruiting calendar has commenced with elite prospects traversing the country for official visits from now to the start of the quiet period June 22. As things stand, 146 of the prospects ranked inside the 2026 ESPN 300 are already committed. That number will skyrocket over the summer months as top programs race to fill out their recruiting classes and rising high school seniors settle on their college homes.
USC, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State and Clemson entered June with the top five classes in ESPN’s latest team recruiting rankings for the class of 2026. Here’s a primer on the state of play across the class as the latest recruiting cycle begins in earnest this month:
Jump to a tier:
Spring recap | Five-star outlook | QB dominoes
ESPN 300 news | Flip watch | Big visit weekends
What has gone down this spring?
The four months since national signing day closed the door on the 2025 class have delivered plenty of fireworks in the 2026 cycle.
Miami offensive tackle commit Jackson Cantwell (No. 3 overall) and Georgia quarterback pledge Jared Curtis (No. 5) stand among the five five-star prospects who have committed since March 1, leaving only 10 five-star recruits on the board. The 2026 quarterback market has similarly narrowed this spring following the pledges of Curtis, Brady Smigiel (No. 44 — Michigan), Peyton Falzone (No. 235 — Penn State), Kayd Coffman (No. 237 — Michigan State) and Derek Zammit (No. 243 — Washington).
No program holds more ESPN 300 commits than USC with 13, headlined by five-star pledges Elbert Hill (No. 15 overall) and Keenyi Pepe (No. 17). Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, Texas A&M, Arizona State, LSU and Georgia have charted some of the strongest starts in the latest cycle. Beyond the blue bloods, Kansas, Syracuse, Illinois and Louisville are recruiting at an impressive clip six months out from the early signing period in December.
Five-star outlook
As of Monday, 11 of ESPN’s 21 five-star prospects in the 2026 cycle are committed. What’s next for the remaining 10? Things are about to heat up for the nation’s most coveted recruits.
DT Lamar Brown, No. 1 in the 2026 ESPN 300: The two-way lineman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told ESPN he’s now being recruited exclusively as a defensive lineman. Brown took an official visit with Miami over the weekend, and he’ll head to finalists Texas (Friday), Texas A&M (June 13) and LSU (June 20) ahead of his July 10 commitment date after swapping a trip to Florida State for this weekend’s visit with the Longhorns.
ESPN’s top overall prospect attends high school on the LSU campus, and the Tigers are clear leaders in Brown’s process, but plenty can change this month.
“It’d be hard for me to leave Louisiana,” he said. “But it may not be the best option for me. That’s why I’m looking at other teams and relationships with other coaches.”
RB Derrek Cooper, No. 7 in the 2026 ESPN 300: The nation’s No. 1 running back prospect opened his slate of official visits at Miami and will get to Alabama (Friday), Georgia (June 13), Florida State (June 15), Penn State (June 17) and Ohio State (June 20) over the next month.
Cooper, who held a short-lived commitment to Georgia last summer, remains high on the Bulldogs as well as Ohio State. Another prominent contender for the versatile rusher from Hollywood, Florida, is Miami, which is pushing hard to add Cooper alongside offensive tackle pledge Jackson Cantwell as the program’s second five-star cornerstone for 2026.
DE JaReylan McCoy, No. 9 in the 2026 ESPN 300: McCoy’s recruitment appeared wrapped up when he committed to LSU on Jan. 2. But the pass rusher from Tupelo, Mississippi, decommitted from the Tigers a month later.
Though Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas A&M have lingered in McCoy’s process this spring, sources told ESPN that the nation’s No. 2 defensive end is down to three schools: Florida, LSU and Texas. McCoy is taking official visits with all three programs — starting with Florida this past weekend ahead of trips to Texas (June 13) and LSU (June 20) — before announcing his commitment July 1.
OT Immanuel Iheanacho, No. 12 in the 2026 ESPN 300: The nation’s top uncommitted offensive tackle is down to Auburn, LSU, Oregon and Penn State and plans to announce his pledge in early August. Iheanacho opened his series of spring official visits with LSU then will be at Auburn (Friday), Penn State (June 13) and Oregon (June 20).
After Oregon missed out on Cantwell and five-star quarterback Jared Curtis last month, sources told ESPN that the Ducks entered June as the leader in Iheanacho’s process. His three other finalists will all get their chance to sway the 6-foot-7, 350-pound lineman this month, with LSU seen as the most serious contender to challenge Oregon for Iheanacho’s commitment.
OLB Tyler Atkinson, No. 13 in the 2026 ESPN 300: ESPN’s top linebacker opened his official visit slate with a trip to Clemson over the weekend. Atkinson does not yet have any other official trips on the calendar, but Auburn, Georgia, Ohio State and Oregon stand among the prominent powers expected to land visits in the coming weeks and months.
Georgia might enter the summer with a slight edge for the productive in-state linebacker from Loganville. However, Atkinson’s recruitment remains wide open as of now.
ATH Brandon Arrington, No. 14 in the 2026 ESPN 300: Projected to play cornerback at the next level, Arrington will have taken official visits with Penn State, Washington, Texas A&M, Alabama and USC by the time he wraps his trip to Oregon on June 20.
Oregon, Texas A&M and USC have been the consistent leaders in Arrington’s recruitment over the past year. Washington has entered the mix as a late-arriving contender. All six schools will continue to be involved in the chase for Arrington’s pledge up to his July 5 commitment date.
DE Richard Wesley, No. 18 in the 2026 ESPN 300: Wesley’s May 10 commitment to Oregon lasted all of 17 days. Upon pulling his pledge from the Ducks last week, Wesley’s recruitment remains open as the coveted 2027 reclass works through an accelerated process.
The circumstances of Wesley’s surprise pledge and subsequent decommitment from Oregon hasn’t soured his relationship with the program. He’ll return for an official visit with the Ducks on Friday before trips to Texas (June 20) and Ohio State (Aug. 30). Tennessee and Texas A&M are among others working to land an official visit date with Wesley.
TE Kaiden Prothro, No. 19 in the 2026 ESPN 300: The lanky 6-7, 210-pound receiving tight end from Bowdon, Georgia, opened an all-SEC run of official visits at Georgia over the weekend. Alabama (Friday), Auburn (June 10), Florida (June 13) and Texas (June 20) are next in line as the recruitment of the highly rated tight end prospect gains steam.
Georgia, with family ties and a history of developing tight ends, appears the most likely destination for Prothro while Auburn and Florida are two other programs pushing especially hard in his recruitment this spring.
OT Felix Ojo, No. 20 in the 2026 ESPN 300: A promising offensive line recruit, Ojo will end up taking a whopping eight official visits between April 18 and June 20. He already has made stops at Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Colorado, Florida and Ohio State this spring and will travel to Michigan (June 7), Texas (June 13) and Oklahoma (June 20) over the next month.
Ojo tells ESPN that Ohio State, Texas and Texas Tech have been the most aggressive programs in his recruitment this spring. He’s aiming to commit before the start of his senior season, so the relationships Ojo builds over the next month of visits will be central to his process.
DE Jake Kreul, No. 21 in the 2026 ESPN 300: A disruptive pass rusher from Florida’s IMG Academy, Kreul will visit Florida (June 7), Texas (June 13) and Oklahoma (June 20) this month following previous officials to Colorado and Ohio State this spring.
No program has worked harder to assert itself in Kreul’s recruitment than Oklahoma. Per ESPN sources, the Sooners view the 6-foot-3, 235-pound defender as a priority target in 2026. Among the top challengers for Kreul’s pledge, expect Texas and Ohio State to be heavily involved this summer.
Landing spots for the top uncommitted quarterbacks
The month began with only four of the 18 passers ranked inside the 2026 ESPN 300 uncommitted with nearly a dozen top programs still searching for a 2026 QB pledge. How might things unfold for the quarterback market’s top recruits over the next three months?
QB Ryder Lyons, No. 49 in the 2026 ESPN 300: ESPN’s fifth-ranked pocket passer has courted interest from BYU, Michigan, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon and USC this spring. Three of those programs — BYU, Oregon and USC — will get Lyons on campus over the next month.
BYU has made some surprise splashes on the recruiting trail this spring, and USC is working to get the in-state quarterback to join his brother, Walker, with the Trojans. But ahead of official visits on each of the next three weekends, it’s Oregon that looks most likely to land Lyons, who will enroll in 2027 following an LDS mission after his high school graduation.
QB Landon Duckworth, No. 104 in the 2025 ESPN 300: Auburn, Florida State, Ole Miss and South Carolina are all-in on the nation’s top dual-threat quarterback. While all four programs will host Duckworth for officials this spring, sources tell ESPN that Ole Miss and South Carolina have established themselves as clear leaders in his process this spring.
Coach Lane Kiffin and the Rebels have worked harder than any other school in Duckworth’s recruitment, selling the mobile passer on his fit in the Ole Miss offense and the program’s record of development at the position. South Carolina, which previously held Duckworth’s pledge from August 2023 to June 2024, continues to maintain a strong presence in his process, as well. Visits with both programs in the coming weeks will be pivotal for Duckworth.
QB Oscar Rios, No, 192 in the 2026 ESPN 300: The former Purdue pledge holds a list of seven finalists — Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Utah and Virginia Tech — ahead of visits to Utah, UCLA, Arizona and Colorado this month following earlier trips to Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech.
Kentucky remains a leader among the schools Rios has already visited. Plenty can change across the string of visits in front of him in the coming weeks ahead of a June 25 commitment date, days after Rios closes his run of officials with a visit to Colorado.
QB Bowe Bentley, No. 261 in the 2025 ESPN 300: The dual-threat quarterback from Celina, Texas, is down to LSU and Oklahoma. Bentley spent this past weekend with the Tigers and will make his latest trip to the Sooners this coming weekend, part of a swing of back-to-back officials that could help decide one of the most intriguing quarterback recruitments in the cycle.
Sources within both programs feel confident about their chances with Bentley, who is likely to make a decision not long after wrapping up his pair of official visits early this month.
Elite skill position recruits and top defenders
Past the five-star firepower, there’s plenty more available talent in the upper crust of the 2026 class.
Four of the nation’s top five running backs remain uncommitted this month, led by No. 1 Derrek Cooper. No. 2 rusher Savion Hiter (No. 27 overall) will take officials with Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and Tennessee prior to the quiet period. Ezavier Crowell, a reclass from the 2027 cycle, is set to commit on June 26 after ESPN’s No. 30 prospect visits Georgia, Texas, Auburn, Florida State and Alabama. Baylor, Florida and Houston are all on the list for four-star rusher Davian Groce (No. 35), whose recruitment remains “wide open,” per ESPN sources.
LSU and Texas A&M stand as the top contenders for four-star wide receiver Ethan Feaster (No. 23 overall) ahead of his July 4 commitment date. Elsewhere in the wide receiver class, sources tell ESPN that Florida, Florida State and LSU are setting the pace for Calvin Russell (No. 26), while Alabama continues to lead the chase for in-state pass catcher Cederian Morgan (No. 47).
On defense, Alabama and Oregon hold a slight edge with four-star safety Jett Washington (No. 22 overall) as the nation’s top safety preps for officials with both schools along with Ohio State and USC. The Crimson Tide are also leading the charge for outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 28), the former USC commit who will visit Florida State, Georgia, Texas after a trip to Ohio State over the weekend.
Four-star safety Jireh Edwards (No. 29) has set his commitment date for July 5 and already visited Auburn and Maryland in recent weeks. Edwards told ESPN that he’s heading into upcoming trips to Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and Oregon with “an open mind.” Sources tell ESPN that defensive end Anthony Jones (No. 25) and outside linebacker D.Q. Forkpa (No. 40) are two of the top defenders on the board this spring for Miami and coach Mario Cristobal.
Flip watch
DE Zion Elee, No. 2 in the 2026 ESPN 300, Maryland commit
Elee was slated for a series of summer officials across the Big Ten and SEC before he closed his recruitment and cancelled those trips in February. That’s why his official visit to Auburn last month raised eyebrows, even while Elee asserts he’s still locked in with the Terps.
“I have a bunch of former teammates there so I just wanted to check it out,” he told ESPN. “I wasn’t thinking anything of it. I’m still firm with Maryland. I just wanted to take pictures.”
The historic local class Maryland dreamed of building around Elee — think Iheanacho, Edwards et al — doesn’t appear likely. And with blue bloods still pursuing Elee this spring, his recruitment will remain one to watch from now to signing day. As things stand, Elee is committed to the Terps with plans to return to Maryland for his only scheduled official visit of the month on June 20.
WR Tristen Keys, No. 10 in the 2026 ESPN 300, LSU commit
Keys has been the top-ranked member of the Tigers’ 2026 class since March 19, but the LSU pledge hasn’t kept ESPN’s No. 2 wide receiver from taking other visits. After spring trips to Auburn, Miami, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, Keys was back at Miami for an official over the weekend.
Following his Hurricanes visit, sources tell ESPN that Keys will get to Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and Texas A&M for officials this month before his June 20 trip to LSU. As Keys keeps his recruitment, coach Brian Kelly’s ability to hang onto five-star talent will be tested again this cycle.
QB Keisean Henderson, No. 16 in the 2026 ESPN 300, Houston commit
Programs across the Big Ten and ACC spent the spring chipping away at Henderson’s Houston commitment. Florida State finally broke through this month, landing a June 9 official visit from the mobile, 6-foot-3 passer.
Henderson has held firm on his pledge to the Cougars while maintaining dialogue with multiple programs this spring. While sources tell ESPN that there has been no change in his commitment status or plans with Houston, Henderson’s visit to Florida State marks new territory in his recruitment.
QB Jaden O’Neal, No. 122 in the 2026 ESPN 300, Oklahoma commit
Despite 11 months spent in the Sooners’ 2026 class and an offseason transfer from California to Oklahoma’s Mustang High School, O’Neal could soon be on the move.
The departure of Sooners offensive coordinator Seth Littrell last fall unsettled O’Neal’s camp, and sources tell ESPN that the program’s full-throttle pursuit of Bowe Bentley under new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has damaged the trust between O’Neal and Oklahoma. O’Neal visited Arizona over the weekend, and his upcoming official trip to Florida State looms especially large with Bentley nearing a decision and quarterback dominoes getting ready to fall this month.
Biggest visits
Alabama (June 6-8): The Crimson Tide’s first recruiting class under coach Kalen DeBoer got rolling in June last year. Alabama could go a long way toward turbocharging its 2026 class this weekend with four top-30 recruits on campus between five-star skill talents Derrek Cooper (No. 7 overall) and Kaiden Prothro (No. 19) and four-star defenders Xavier Griffin (No. 28) and Jireh Edwards (No. 29).
Auburn (June 13-15): The Tigers will have a big name on campus this weekend when five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho (No. 12 overall) takes his official trip to Auburn. But the weekend of June 13 will give coach Hugh Freeze and his staff a shot at multiple elite targets, including running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 30), safety Bralan Womack (No. 31) and wide receiver Cederian Morgan (No. 47).
Florida (June 13-15): While the Gators will have elite prospects on campus all month, Florida has a chance to build momentum with several top targets two weekends from now. Prothro and No. 4 running back Davian Groce (No. 35 overall) headline a talented group of visitors that could also include top-40 linebacker Izayia Williams — who flipped from Florida to Ole Miss last month — and defensive tackle Kendall Guervil (No. 253), a priority in-state recruit.
Florida State (June 9-15): It’s not exactly a weekend, but the Seminoles will embark on a defining stretch of quarterback visits in the middle of the month. It’ll start with a visit from five-star passer Keisean Henderson (No. 16 overall) before top dual-threat passer Landon Duckworth (No. 104) on June 13 and Oklahoma pledge Jaden O’Neal (No. 112) on June 15 also make visits.
Georgia (June 6-8): The Bulldogs will host a series of heavy hitters this weekend with running back Savion Hiter (No. 27 overall), cornerback Chauncey Kennon (No. 48) and offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko (No. 50) set to visit. Georgia gets Cooper, another top running back target, on campus starting June 13.
Michigan (June 13-15): Coach Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines will welcome eight top-150 prospects on June 13. Hiter, No. 3 athlete Salesi Moa (No. 34 overall) and outside linebacker D.Q. Forkpa (No. 40) lead the group of blue-chip visitors. Top-75 offensive tackles John Turntine III (No. 43) and Leo Delaney (No. 75) mark another pair of key visitors.
Notre Dame (June 20-22): The Fighting Irish will host roughly a dozen commits from June 13 to 15 but could continue to bolster the nation’s second-ranked class a week later. Notre Dame will look to leave a lasting impression on Ogboko, ESPN’s No. 8 offensive tackle, four-star defensive tackle Elijah Golden (No. 84 overall) and athlete Joey O’Brien (No. 102) on the final weekend before the summer quiet period.
Oregon (June 20-22): Coach Dan Lanning will get his top 2026 commit — five-star tight end Kendre’ Harrison — on campus on the final official visit weekend of June with a chance to make a mark with a number of other key Oregon targets. Iheanacho and Edwards are set to visit on June 20 alongside five-star athlete Brandon Arrington (No. 14 overall), outside linebacker Talanoa Ili (No. 53), cornerback Khary Adams (No. 68) and athlete Jalen Lott (No. 108).
Sports
‘As wired at breakfast as he is at game time’: What Brad Marchand has brought to the Panthers
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand has regrets.
He didn’t want to leave the Boston Bruins, the team that drafted him in 2006, won a Stanley Cup with him in 2011 and that he captained for the past two seasons after Patrice Bergeron retired. The team with whom he gained fame with 976 points in 1,090 games, as well as infamy as one of the NHL’s most accomplished agitators. He dreamed about being a one-team guy, one of the rarest accomplishments for veteran stars in a transient sport.
Marchand regrets not being able to say goodbye to Boston fans on his own terms before the NHL trade deadline.
“I got hurt before I got traded. The last game I’ll ever play in a Bruins jersey was not the last game I thought I was ever going to play in a Bruins jersey,” he said.
Marchand’s final home game in Boston was a loss to the New York Islanders on Feb. 27. His final game with the Bruins was March 3 in Pittsburgh. He was traded to the Florida Panthers on March 7, the result of a contract impasse with Boston management and the team’s pivot to a retool.
He fought back tears in his first public appearance as a Panther. “At the end of the day, I know the business is the business and everybody has a shelf life,” he said. “I am grateful, beyond words, for everything that organization has done for me.”
Marchand regrets not appreciating all the experiences he had in Boston.
“When you come to the rink, it can be stressful. You start overthinking things. There’s this pressure you sometimes put on yourself. You start stressing about things that you don’t need to stress about,” he said. “I know that there are moments that I missed out on or didn’t really appreciate because I was stressing about other things.”
For example, the Bruins had 135 points in 2022-23, becoming the most successful regular-season team in NHL history. The Panthers shocked the league — and began their nascent dynasty — with a seven-game upset in the first round of the playoffs that ended the series at a funeral-pitched TD Garden.
“We thought we were going to go to the finals that year. We thought we were going to win it all, and then we got pushed out in the first round,” Marchand said. “You start looking back at those moments and you realize you took all we did that season for granted because we were so worried about going to the finals. We weren’t living in the moment.”
Those are old regrets for the new Brad Marchand. The playoff disappointment, the breakup with the Bruins, the deadline trade … they were all shocks to his system that reoriented his thinking.
“I’m just not going to do that to myself this time around,” he said. “I’m coming to the rink every day just having fun and trying to live in the moment, not taking anything too seriously.”
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Marchand started to rethink his own mindfulness when he arrived in Florida.
“My family’s not here and I have a lot more time to sit home and think and go over things in my head than I normally do,” he said. “Being here, they talk about being in the moment. Just going day by day. About taking time to reflect on things and appreciate them.”
And so Marchand decided he was just going to enjoy himself during this run with the Panthers, which finds them back in the Stanley Cup Final, seeking a second straight championship against the Edmonton Oilers, whom they defeated in Game 7 for the Cup last season.
“I’m literally just trying to have fun out there and have fun in here,” he said, motioning to the dressing room.
“The Dairy Queen thing is a great example.”
THE “DAIRY QUEEN THING” sprang from an interview between Marchand and Sportsnet rinkside reporter Kyle Bukauskas. He asked Marchand about a run to Dairy Queen that the Panthers made during the Eastern Conference finals games in Raleigh, and then introduced a clip of Marchand eating something with a spoon in between periods of Florida’s Game 3 win. Bukauskas asked Marchand if he was “refueling with a Blizzard” in the locker room.
Marchand extolled the virtues of the chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard as “the best dessert in the world,” and made a pitch to DQ PR for a lifetime supply of the frozen treats for that endorsement.
“We had a little fun on the off day. There was a DQ by the hotel. We popped over and enjoyed our night,” Marchand explained.
This interview went viral, with many fans (and media) taking it as gospel that Marchand had been eating ice cream in between periods. His teammates were interviewed about it. Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice was asked about it during his news conferences.
Days later, Marchand was finally asked about eating ice cream in the locker room during a game.
“It wasn’t a Blizzard,” Marchand said, with a tone that rendered the accusation absurd. “I was not eating a Blizzard in the middle of a game.”
Marchand explained that he was referencing the Panthers’ trip to Dairy Queen during the Sportsnet interview. “I was referencing that. I was making a joke about our excursion a couple of nights before. Just kind of making a joke off of it and I think people took it seriously,” he said.
After the interview went viral, Marchand said his phone blew up with messages from people saying they were inspired by him to go to Dairy Queen.
“I appreciate the support,” he said. “I love a good Blizzard more than anybody, but it’s not something I’ve had in the middle of the game.”
For many, this was never really about whether Marchand was wolfing down ice cream in his dressing room stall. It was essentially a tribute to the mercurial nature of the star winger that he reasonably could have been the guy eating Dairy Queen between periods. There’s something indelible about the most agitating player on the ice celebrating his wickedness with spoonfuls of cookie dough ice cream during intermission.
But it wasn’t ice cream or cookie dough or peanut butter. Marchand eventually revealed he was caught consuming “something healthy” on camera.
“It was honey. I was having honey. It was a spoonful of honey.”
Because he’s sweet?
“Because I’m a bear,” he responded.
Marchand said he has always had an affinity for honey.
“Actually, when I was growing up, I loved Winnie the Pooh. So I used to have a Winnie the Pooh [doll] and I used to feed the bear honey. So it was covered with honey and would get rock hard,” he said. “I don’t think [my parents] enjoyed cleaning up the mess. But I had fun.”
Marchand paused for effect.
“It’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey.”
Everyone laughed.
IT’S STILL SURREAL to think about where Marchand started in his NHL career to where he has ended up.
When the Bruins won the Cup in 2011, Marchand was a brash 23-year-old winger whose burgeoning offensive game was secondary to his extracurricular activities on the ice. Like when he used Vancouver Canucks winger Daniel Sedin as a punching bag in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, delivering around six shots to his face without the on-ice officials stepping in.
When asked why he kept punching Sedin, Marchand responded, “Because I felt like it.”
He was the guy who got a misspelled tattoo after the Bruins won the Cup.
“Let me clear something up. After we won, a bunch of us got tattoos here in the dressing room of the Garden. Mine originally was misspelled,” he said in an ESPN player diary. “Instead of saying Stanley Cup Champions it said ‘Stanley Cup Champians.’ I don’t even know how that happened.”
(It was fixed before the next season.)
He was the player who was suspended six times by the NHL between 2011 and 2018 for illegal hits, and was given a six-game suspension as recently as 2022. He was a player known as much for his goading as his goal scoring.
But in 2025? Marchand was “an elder statesman” for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off, according to coach Jon Cooper.
“Love him. I can’t say enough great things about him, his energy and passion. He seems to find the fountain of youth any time he comes into one of these tournaments. He’s one of the guys everybody turns to when everything’s under fire,” Cooper said. “The loudest guy on the bench, pumping everybody up, is Brad Marchand. For somebody that’s been around as long as he has, he doesn’t have to do that.”
That energy is one of the things Maurice likes best about Marchand.
“He is such a unique guy. He’s as wired at breakfast as he is at game time,” he said.
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Maurice remembered when GM Bill Zito told him that the Panthers would be acquiring Matthew Tkachuk in 2022 and not believing he’d be able to pull it off. He had a similar reaction when Zito told him last summer that Chicago defenseman Seth Jones might be available. When Zito told him about Marchand, he knew it was real. “If he says it, then it could happen,” Maurice said.
Truth be told, Maurice didn’t believe the Panthers had “a huge hole” in their lineup for Marchand to fill. He was also concerned about how the 37-year-old would fit on a roster that was largely the same as the one that captured the Stanley Cup last season.
Two of Marchand’s former Bruins teammates are Panthers executives: Shawn Thornton, chief revenue officer, and Gregory Campbell, assistant general manager. They assured Maurice that Marchand would be an ideal Panther.
“There’s just many stories about bringing them high-end guys toward the end of their career and it doesn’t work and it doesn’t fit. But they were sure,” the coach recalled.
When Marchand arrived with the Panthers, Maurice soon understood the fit — on the ice and off the ice.
“His personality took some pressure off the rest of the guys. I actually have more quiet guys than we have loud guys. You all know that [Aleksander] Barkov is not doing a podcast when he’s done [playing],” Maurice said. “They’re like, ‘OK, Marchy’s here, he can do all the talking and we can just relax.'”
The Panthers had some talkers last season in forward Ryan Lomberg and defenseman Brandon Montour, who both left via free agency.
“Some of these guys start talking in their car and don’t stop until they left the rink. They just go on all the time,” Maurice said. “It was nice to have that element again that we kind of lost a little bit of it. He’s brought it back.”
Marchand has also learned through years when to hold his tongue with the media. Like when Carolina defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere intentionally shot the puck at Marchand in Game 1 of the conference finals, which led to Marchand getting a misconduct penalty. When Marchand was asked about his thoughts, he replied: “Yeah, I’m not much of a thinker.”
Maurice nodded to that moment in his news conference later that day.
“He’s a great interview. He’s very, very bright, even though I hear he is a man of very few thoughts,” he said, drawing laughs. “That’s a good line. I’m stealing it.”
ON THE ICE, Marchand has been primarily paired with center Anton Lundell, 23, and winger Eetu Luostarinen, 26, during the Panthers’ run to the Final, forming one of the most effective lines in the postseason. In 17 games together, the line has had 55% of the shot attempts when on the ice, 56% of the expected goals, has 4.2 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 and just 0.82 goals against per 60 minutes.
Maurice raved about what Marchand “has done with those two young players” on Florida’s third line. “The way they’ve expanded, the way they play … part of it is playing off him,” he said.
Marchand has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in the playoffs. Luostarinen has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) while Lundell has 12 points (five goals, seven assists).
Marchand had high praise for Luostarinen.
“He plays a man’s game. He plays through bodies. He’s hard on pucks, wins a lot of battles,” Marchand said. “He’s very, very skilled. He’s great with the puck. He doesn’t force plays. He’s very smart in the way that he plays.”
Marchand then bestowed the greatest accolade he could muster onto Luostarinen: He reminds Marchand of Bergeron, his six-time Selke Trophy-winning teammate with the Bruins.
“He’s so defensively good with the stick. It reminds me a lot of Bergy, where he leads with the stick a lot, kills a lot of plays that way and creates offense from that,” Marchand said.
Marchand said he enjoys playing with his Panthers linemates because they have similar “simple, direct” games.
“We just complement each other all over the ice because we read the game pretty well on both sides of it. We support each other pretty well, all the way up and down the ice and then in the corner,” he said. “So I think we just because of that, we’re able to create offense out, little scrums, stuff like that.”
He said skating with Lundell and Luostarinen has been revitalizing.
“They play fast and they play hard and they’re young, energetic guys. It keeps me feeling young,” Marchand said. “I’m lying to myself. I feel 25 again. I feel rejuvenated and part of that comes to playing with some younger guys and part of a really good group of guys in here.”
0:36
Panthers take care of Hurricanes in 5 to advance to Stanley Cup Final
The Florida Panthers win 5-3 in a back-and-forth Game 5 battle vs. the Hurricanes to advance to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final.
Marchand didn’t always feel they were good guys. Not when Matthew Tkachuk was terrorizing his Bruins in the playoffs in 2023 and 2024.
“He’s a competitor. He’s there to win. His reputation proceeds him,” Marchand said of Tkachuk. “One of the most gifted players in the league around the net. He brings an element to the group that brings guys swagger.”
Someone asked what opponents think about having Marchand and Tkachuk — two legendary provocateurs — on the ice for Florida.
“I mostly feel sorry for the guys in our room. Not too many guys are going to get a break here now,” Marchand said of him and Tkachuk. “It’s nice to be on his team rather than going against him, for sure.”
Then there’s Sam Bennett, who appeared to sucker punch Marchand during the Panthers’ playoff series win over the Bruins in 2024. It knocked Marchand out of the series for two games and didn’t result in further discipline for Bennett. At the trade deadline in 2025, they became teammates.
“I didn’t hold a grudge. Again, I know how this game’s played. I played a similar way,” Marchand said. “It’s something that we joke about. I can laugh it off. I joke about it all the time. I joke about it more than he does, but I definitely joke about it.”
Maurice said there’s a reason that hockey players who were the fiercest rivals can become teammates without much acrimony.
“I think you find out when a player walks in the room, even if he’s had his great battles, they’re so happy that it’s over. They don’t have to fight you anymore. They don’t have to hack and whack in the corner for 60 minutes,” Maurice said. “Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett are best friends now. A year ago, you would’ve never thought that could happen.”
A year ago, Brad Marchand becoming a Florida Panther wasn’t something many believed could happen, although it makes perfect sense now: The Rat King, joining the franchise that celebrates wins by throwing plastic rats on the ice.
In fact, Marchand has become a new part of that tradition. After Florida wins, if there are rats on the ice, his teammates have taken to shooting the faux rodents at Marchand as they’re leaving for the dressing room.
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand deadpanned.
As the playoffs have progressed, “they’re shooting to hurt now,” according to Marchand. “Matthew Tkachuk caught me with one last game that I actually really felt there,” he said.
Marchand is feeling a lot these days. The sting of the trade dissipates a little more with every playoff win. He’s having more fun and stressing less, among teammates with whom he has quickly bonded. And he’s a few wins from another Stanley Cup, in the third Final he has reached since winning his first ring 14 years ago.
“It’s exciting. You hope that you get to this point. Obviously, we have a great team and we played well so far. We got to the point where we want to be, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Marchand said.
“I may never get back this late in the playoffs ever again in my career. These are memories and moments that you want to embrace.”
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