There are seven quarterbacks in The Dallas Morning News’ area top 100 recruiting rankings for the Class of 2026, ranging from No. 7 to No. 92 overall. Five of those quarterbacks have already made their college commitment going into their senior year, and Celina’s Bowe Bentley is one of the highest-ranked quarterbacks in D-FW over the last five years.
Three-star quarterback Noah Schuback had been in the Top 100, but he has left Melissa and moved to California, Melissa coach Matt Nally said Sunday night. Melissa’s new quarterback will be Brett Holloway, a transfer from Allen.
Here is a breakdown:
No. 7 Bowe Bentley
As the seventh-ranked recruit in the Dallas area, Bentley is just the third quarterback to be in the top 10 for the recruiting classes of 2022 through 2026, joining Oklahoma signee Jackson Arnold from Denton Guyer (No. 2 in the Class of 2023) and Alabama signee Keelon Russell from Duncanville (No. 6 in the Class of 2025). Arnold and Russell were both named the Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior.
Bentley, a four-star recruit from state champion Celina, is committed to Oklahoma and chose the Sooners over LSU. He also had offers from 2024 national champion Ohio State and 2021 and 2022 national champion Georgia.
Bentley is rated the No. 1 quarterback in the Dallas area, is No. 3 in Texas and No. 10 in the nation for the Class of 2026. He had a phenomenal junior year while leading Celina to a 16-0 record and the Class 4A Division I state title, throwing for 3,330 yards and 47 touchdowns and running for 933 yards and 16 scores while completing 69% of his passes.
Celina won its first state title since 2007 by routing Kilgore 55-21 in the state championship game as Bentley threw five touchdown passes. That was Celina’s ninth state championship in school history, and it joined Aledo (12), Carthage (10) and Katy (nine) as the only schools in UIL 11-man football history to win at least nine state titles.
Bentley was chosen for the Navy All-American Bowl and the prestigious Elite 11 Finals.
No. 20 Legend Bey
The three-star recruit from North Forney is one of the top running quarterbacks in the state, and he committed to Tennessee on Saturday. He rushed for 1,852 yards and 28 touchdowns last year in his first year at North Forney after transferring from Mesquite Horn, ranking No. 1 among all area Class 6A players in rushing touchdowns and No. 3 in rushing yards.
Bey is listed as an athlete by some recruiting services and a quarterback by others. He showed off his speed during track season, running a wind-aided 10.23 in the 100 meters and qualifying for regionals.
Bey is rated the 61st-best player in Texas in the Class of 2026. His offers included national champion Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon, Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
Bey averaged just 13 pass attempts per game last year, finishing the season 79 for 156 for 1,424 yards and 13 touchdowns for an 8-4 team. He is at his fourth high school, having spent time at Frisco Reedy and Frisco Lone Star before Mesquite Horn.
No. 42 Quinn Murphy
The three-star Baylor pledge led Argyle Liberty Christian to the TAPPS Division I state title as a junior, throwing for 274 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-24 win over Parish Episcopal in the championship game. That ended Parish Episcopal’s run of five consecutive state titles.
In his first year at Argyle Liberty after transferring from Austin Regents, Murphy passed for 3,055 yards and 43 touchdowns while completing 66% of his passes and throwing only three interceptions. That was his second straight 3,000-yard season, as he threw for 3,030 yards and 52 touchdowns at Regents in 2023.
Murphy is rated the 49th-best quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2026. He is the No. 6 quarterback in Texas.
No. 60 Angelo Renda
The three-star Pittsburgh pledge led Southlake Carroll to a state runner-up finish in Class 6A Division II in his first year as the starting quarterback for the eight-time state champion. Renda threw for 351 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-17 loss to Austin Vandegrift in the state championship game, his third 300-yard game in the playoffs.
The District 4-6A MVP threw for 3,899 yards and 40 touchdowns and ran for 667 yards and 14 scores for a 15-1 team and was a second-team All-Area selection as a junior. It was the fourth time in six years that a Carroll quarterback threw for more than 3,000 yards in a season, as Renda followed Graham Knowles in 2023, Kaden Anderson in 2021 and Quinn Ewers in 2019.
No. 69 Nelson Peterson Jr.
The three-star recruit accounted for 33 touchdowns and 3,029 yards of total offense in his first season at Forney after transferring from Sunnyvale. Peterson threw for 2,298 yards and 26 touchdowns and ran for 731 yards and seven touchdowns while ranking second on the team in rushing behind four-star Notre Dame pledge Javian Osborne.
Peterson is the half-brother of seven-time Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson. He is rated the 61st-best quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2026 and lists offers from Ole Miss and Texas Tech, among others.
Peterson led Sunnyvale to a 9-3 record and district title in 2023.
No. 76 Ziondre Williams
The three-star recruit has already won a state championship, leading Anna to the Class 4A Division I title as a sophomore in 2023. Williams is one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the area and threw for 3,203 yards and 37 touchdowns and ran for 1,107 yards and 14 scores last season after Anna moved up to 5A.
That came after he accounted for 47 touchdowns and 3,698 yards of total offense for Anna’s state title team in 2023. Despite the classification change, Anna went 9-4 and reached the third round of the 5A Division II playoffs last season.
Williams is rated the 64th-best quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2026. He lists offers from Pittsburgh, North Texas, Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Texas State, UTEP and UT-San Antonio.
No. 92 Maguire Gasperson
The three-star UT-San Antonio pledge led Argyle to the Class 5A Division II state semifinals as a junior and has reached at least the third round of the playoffs in both of his seasons as Argyle’s starting quarterback. He threw for 2,876 yards and 27 touchdowns last year and completed 63% of his passes.
Gasperson was a wide receiver at Argyle until moving to quarterback as a sophomore when John Gailey suffered a season-ending injury in October 2023. But he had been the backup quarterback in spring ball and had taken plenty of reps there before becoming the starter.
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