Sports
Who’s No. 1 in the boys’ 2026, 2027, 2028 recruiting classes?
As the high school basketball season ramps up, players are showcasing their talents on the court — so it’s time to update the SC Next player rankings.
The most important discussion point of these player rankings is, and always will be, the battle for the No. 1 spot across classes. The top spot in a class’s player rankings is never owned — merely rented — and this cycle is no different. In fact, it remains as competitive as ever.
So, who is the No. 1 player in each of the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes? And who are his top challengers?
Our evaluations lean on a few guiding questions:
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Who is the best player today?
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Who produces most consistently?
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Who drives winning at the high school level?
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Who projects as a future star on a top-25 college team, or as a high-end NBA draft pick?
With this in mind, here’s where the race stands in each class — including a way-too-early look at three high school freshmen (class of 2029) already on the national radar.
Updated player rankings:
2026 SC Next 100 | 2027 SC Next 60 | 2028 SC Next 25
2026: No. 1 is locked up — kind of
Tyran Stokes stays No. 1, despite some questions
Stokes is the most talented, physical and impactful high school player in the country. He’s the type of No. 1 recruit people line up to watch, seemingly doing something every game to separate himself from his peers. But Stokes’ recent transfer to Rainier Beach (Wash.) in Seattle came as a surprise — and raised some questions across the industry.
Yet, his Rainier Beach tenure started on a high note, with 31 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals in his first game. This followed a reminder of his talent at the Border League in Las Vegas –, when he was still at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, Calif. — where he dropped 27 points and 8 rebounds against Dynamic Prep (Texas).
“Tyran is way ahead on his transition,” Rainier Beach head coach Mike Bethea said. “His leadership qualities are equal to his playing ability. He has been a great teammate. He makes the 12th man feel just as important as the starters.”
A 6-foot-7 point forward, Stokes has advanced vision for his size. He’s a willing passer and loves to operate as the primary initiator with the ball in his hands, using his sheer presence to suck defenses in and create opportunities for his teammates. He also creates havoc defensively.
His natural physicality is the foundation of his game. He punishes opponents in the paint, finishes drives, cleans up offensive rebounds and can lead the break after clearing defensive boards as well. But he’s much more than just an inside threat. He’s a much-improved 3-point shooter, not to mention a freight train in transition who makes smart decisions, and can toggle between playing with force to draw fouls and utilizing his finesse.
Stokes appears to be deciding between Kentucky, Kansas and Oregon. His ability to adapt to a new high school situation will play a key role in whether he retains the top spot at the end of the high school season.
The No. 2 spot sees more competition
Both Duke commit Cameron Williams and uncommitted Jordan Smith are in prime position to challenge for the No. 1 spot in the class. And the gap between the Nos. 2 and 3 players in the 2026 class is razor thin.
Williams, formerly No. 3 in the class, has the highest upside of the group. No one impacts winning like Smith, the former No. 2.
The NBA covets modern big men like Williams, who uses his 6-11 frame and 7-2 wingspan to protect the rim and finish drop-offs and lobs while setting excellent screens and rolling to the rim. He can impact winning without scoring simply by functioning as a defensive anchor. His upside will only increase as his offense comes along.
As a powerful two-way guard, Smith brings to mind NBA veteran Marcus Smart at the same stage. The best on-ball defender in the class, Smith loves to attack downhill, leading to high field goal percentages and plenty of trips to the free throw line. His playmaking has taken a leap recently as a true lead guard, and he’s dishing out 4.1 assists per game (nearly double his career average), according to Cerebro Sports. He’s showing he can facilitate while carrying a scoring load, too. Arkansas, Duke, Georgetown, Indiana, Kentucky and Syracuse are his final schools.
Don’t count these players out
Keep an eye on Missouri commit Jason Crowe, the fourth-ranked player in the country and the best scoring guard in the class.
No. 5 Caleb Holt is healthy again for Prolific Prep (Fla.), with Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky and Houston leading in his recruitment.
And a pair of new additions have created another interesting twist to the 2026 ranking cycle. Maryland commit Babatunde Oladotun and uncommitted Bruce Branch III ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in 2027 prior to reclassifying up to the 2026 class. Now, they’re sixth and seventh, respectively, and their improvement and upside are undeniable. With a strong senior season, they could easily push into the top-five — if not higher — setting the stage for a potentially very exciting 2027 NBA draft class. Branch told ESPN he is looking at Arizona, Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas, USC, BYU, Houston and others.
2027: More players in the mix for No. 1
Marcus Spears Jr. retains the top spot — for now
Spears Jr. has one of the highest two-way ceilings in the 2027 class. The 6-9 stretch forward ensures he impacts every game with his all-out hustle, whether as a 36% 3-point shooter according to Cerebro Sports, or as an elite rim protector.
It’s easy to envision Spears spacing the floor at the next level and drawing opposing big men out of the paint. He’s a true mismatch when he takes advantage of his size and skill. Spears rarely settles for jumpers, attacking closeouts and reeling in offensive boards to pile up free throws.
How the Nos. 2 and 3 players could challenge Spears
At No. 2, C.J. Rosser is having a breakout season at Southeastern Prep Academy (Fla.) and has closed the gap on Spears. The 6-9 forward is a pure shooter from deep, his accuracy shooting over most defenders rare for that size. He’s also an elite rim protector with an exceptional peak shooting metric, according to Cerebro Sports. His jumper and frame are reminiscent of Michael Porter Jr. at the same stage.
If Rosser can become a bit more willing to work out of the post and avoid becoming too stationary behind the arc, he should have a shot at the No. 1 spot in the next rankings cycle.
No. 3 Paul Osaruyi has eye-popping physical tools and explosiveness, with the power, strength and speed to cover ground quickly. He’s a two-way presence who rebounds, blocks shots, gets to the rim and has a nice shooting touch, and should look to keep solidifying his skills to stay in the No. 1 conversation.
2028: It’s a two-man race
Why A.J. Williams stays No. 1
Just 15 years old, Williams already projects as a jumbo-sized dominant scorer on the wing. The small forward out of Eagles Landing Christian Academy (Ga.) has multi-dimensional pure scoring prowess with the height, strength and improving basketball IQ to score on — or shoot over — most opponents. He has a fluid outside game and strong work habits, which has led to plenty of productivity. That keeps him No. 1 for now, and he has already taken unofficial visits to Auburn and Duke.
Don’t count out No. 2 Erick Dampier Jr.
The son of Erick Dampier simply owns the paint as a scorer and rebounder. A 6-9 center, Dampier Jr. can throw down monster dunks and is the class’s best finisher through contact. He also sets excellent screens and is comfortable playing out of the post, where he’s unbothered by fouls because he has good free-throw mechanics. He plays with a nonstop motor and dominates the glass. If he can develop his face-up game while maintaining his impactful inside presence, he’ll have a strong case for No. 1 in the future.
Meet the 2029 freshmen phenoms
We don’t rank the freshmen class, but we do identify and evaluate them. Here are the top three at this stage of the season.
1. JJ Crawford, 6-2, G, Rainier Beach (Wash.): The son of former NBA veteran Jamal Crawford plays with advanced speed and space. He’s a capable shooter and playmaker with impressive passing vision. Crawford regularly breaks pressure, hits 3s and already has a floater at this stage of development. He plays with his head up and makes sound decisions. He’ll have plenty of eyes on him this winter playing alongside 2026 No. 1 Tyran Stokes.
“He’s a game-changer with a high IQ and he dribbles like his dad,” said coach Mike Bethea, who also coached Jamal at Rainier Beach.
2. Draydne McDaniel, 6-7, F, Prolific Prep (Fla.): With massive size and a natural shooting ability, McDaniel does a nice job shot-faking closeout defenders. From there, he can either get to the rim or stop for a pull-up jumper. While he’s on a loaded roster, it’s easy to see flashes of the left-handed freshman’s lofty promise down the road.
3. Cayden Gaskins, 6-9, F, Columbus (Fla.): The younger brother of Miami commit Caleb Gaskins, Cayden already has an offer from the Hurricanes. He has an impressive frame with big-time explosiveness, active hands and good footwork. He loves to defend, run in transition and attack the glass — and he’s a handful to defend on straight-line drives to the basket. Gaskins’ combination of uber-athleticism, early instincts, effort and ability to play above the rim are difficult to stop.
Sports
Seahawks Super Bowl hero Derick Hall opens up about how ‘God’ saved him from near-certain death
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Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made his mark on NFL history when he came up with a tone-setting strip sack in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots this February.
There’s a low percent chance that any football player will get a moment like that in his career. But Hall had to beat much greater odds. Hall had a 1% chance of survival when he was born four months premature at just 23 weeks gestation, born without a heartbeat and suffering from a brain bleed.
“I wasn’t born… breathing,” he told Fox News Digital. “I was born dead.
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Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks strip sacks Drake Maye of the New England Patriots during the third quarter of the NFL Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
For his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, those first days of her son’s life were filled with uncertainty and fear.
“Emotional, a lot of uncertainty, scared,” she said of her emotions in the days that followed her son’s premature birth. “But… those weren’t the feelings that I was feeling during Derick’s birth. I just trusted that God would work everything out.”
That belief became the center of how the family made sense of everything that followed.
“It is probably the most important thing that we share,” Gooden-Crandle said of their religion.
“We are people of faith and have been for most of my lifetime. I joined church when I was 16 years old, and I’ve just grown up as a woman of faith. I’ve raised my children in the church and instilled faith in them and just allowed them to flourish in their faith in their walk with Christ.”
For Hall, growing up inside that environment gave meaning to struggles he didn’t yet understand.
“It was huge. It was amazing because I never really understood why me or why my family had to go through what I was going through,” Hall said said.
Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks watches from the sideline during the national anthem before an NFL game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 7, 2025. (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
“My pastor always told me, you weren’t dying for this, you are blessed to be in this position and God has something greater for you, and I think that helped me be at ease with the situation and the things that me and my family were enduring during the time.
“I always speak to my faith because obviously I’m a miracle child, and I don’t say I’m doing good, I say I’m blessed, I can’t complain, I’m above ground and I’m blessed… You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live and not supposed to be walking, not supposed to be talking, not even supposed to be alive, ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives.”
Even after surviving infancy, the challenges didn’t disappear, and his childhood looked very different from other kids.
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“My hardest time period was from about the age of four or five to about the age of 12 or 13,” Hall said. “I could go out and play, but it was only for about five minutes at a time and I would have to go sit down for an hour just to allow my body and my lungs to catch back up, and to this day my lungs are still underdeveloped, they always will be, they’ll always be three years behind.”
Those limits extended into nearly every part of his life, including the seasons when other kids were outside playing freely.
But through it all, Hall discovered football, and his condition wasn’t going to keep him from the game that would define his life.
Derick Hall of the Seattle Seahawks holds the Vince Lombardi trophy on stage with his teammates after winning Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
“I started playing football at the age of four because I was trying to develop my body and get to the point where I was able to do things, and I fell in love with it because it was the first thing that I was able to do to make me feel like a normal kid,” he said.
For his mom, that moment came with a difficult decision about her son’s wellbeing.
“It was difficult to make the decision to allow him to play, so I allowed him to play flag football in the beginning, but making that jump to allow him to play tackle football when we were still seeing a neurologist every six months for a brain bleed, it was a difficult decision,” she said.
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“I made sure all the coaches had asthma pumps and rescue inhalers, and I gave one to the coaches, the trainers, I kept one, to make sure if somebody needed to get to him they had what he needed… And as he progressed, I was getting more and more comfortable.”
The faith in letting him play football paid off when Hall received his first college scholarship offer when he was just in the eighth grade, his mom said.
Hall went on to be a standout linebacker at Gulfport High School in Mississippi, rising from a touted four-star prospect to a dominant All-SEC edge rusher at Auburn University.
Hall finished his career at Auburn with 147 tackles, 19.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for loss in 40 games. A highly touted recruit, Hall developed into a dominant SEC starter, earning first-team All-SEC honors in 2022 as a team captain, known for his elite power, speed, and high motor.
It earned him a chance to take his extraordinary story to the NFL as he went on to be the 37th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
But the 2025 didn’t unfold the way Derick Hall expected, at least in terms of his individual stats at first. For much of the year, the numbers didn’t match the effort. He was getting pressure, getting hits, doing the work that doesn’t always show up in headlines, but the sacks weren’t coming.
“I was steady getting hits… I’m getting pressures,” Hall said. “But I can’t get the sack… I’m like, Lord, whatever you got planned, let it reveal itself.”
Statistically, that frustration was real. Hall finished the regular season with just two sacks across 14 games, contributing more as a rotational edge presence than a headline pass rusher. But within Seattle’s defense — a unit built on balance, depth and consistent pressure — his role still mattered. The Seahawks leaned on a collective pass rush rather than one dominant star, finishing the season as one of the league’s more effective defensive fronts.
And then, almost all at once, everything changed.
On the biggest stage in football, in Super Bowl LX against the Patriots, Hall delivered the kind of performance that reshapes a career. He recorded two sacks and a forced fumble, including a strip sack that helped break the game open and set the tone for Seattle’s 29–13 win. That single play — driving through the offensive line, knocking the ball loose, and creating a turnover — became one of the defining moments of the game.
For Hall, it didn’t feel like a coincidence. It felt like timing.
“I got to that Super Bowl and I got both sacks, and I’m like, man, ain’t no time like God’s time,” he said. “That’s true, man.”
In a season where he had spent months waiting for production to match effort, the breakthrough came when it mattered most.
“Mentally it was tough this year,” he said. “But like I said, it’s a blessing.”
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After the game, the numbers told one story: two sacks, a forced fumble, a championship. But for Hall, the meaning ran deeper, tied back to something far bigger than a stat sheet.
“You can’t tell me that a child with a one percent chance to live… ends up being a Super Bowl champion one day without the Lord being in their lives,” he said. “That’s a miracle in itself.”
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Drake Maye voices support for Patriots coach Mike Vrabel as off-field controversy continues to swirl
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Mike Vrabel has the full support of his young star quarterback.
The New England Patriots head coach and Drake Maye, in just his second NFL season, won the AFC and brought the Pats back to familiar territory: the Super Bowl.
The big game itself did not go how they had liked, but at the very least, it showed that Patriots fans likely have their coach-quarterback tandem for years to come.
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New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel talks to quarterback Drake Maye during the second quarter at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, on Oct. 19, 2025. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
But the team has hit quite the detour amid Vrabel’s controversy with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini, which led to Vrabel having “difficult conversations with people that I care about” and even seeking counseling.
Last week, the Patriots said in a statement that they “fully support” their head coach, and Maye echoed similar sentiments.
“We’re here for coach, we love coach and what he does for us, and has done for us this past year. You can’t speak it into words, and thankfully, he’s our head coach,” Maye told WHDH-TV in Boston.
“We know he’s dealing with some stuff off the field and out of the coaching world, but we’re here for him and I know he’s gonna come back.”
Head coach Mike Vrabel of the New England Patriots speaks with quarterback Drake Maye during the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Sept. 7, 2025. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
The scandal began early this month when he and Russini were photographed together at a Sedona, Arizona, private resort holding hands and lying beside each other at a pool.
Since then, photos have surfaced from 2020 showing Vrabel and Russini kissing at a bar in New York City. The pictures exclusively obtained by the New York Post were taken in the early hours of March 11, 2020.
Russini reportedly married Kevin Goldschmidt, her husband and a Shake Shack executive, six months after the photos were snapped. Goldschmidt and Russini also share two children.
Vrabel has been married to his wife, Jen, since 1999, and they share two sons together. In the pictures, Vrabel’s wedding band is visible on his left hand while conversing with Russini. At the time, Russini was with ESPN, while Vrabel was coaching the Tennessee Titans.
Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, right, are shown in a split composite image featuring Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans sideline wearing a headset. (Imagn Images)
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Both initially denied any wrongdoing, but Russini has since resigned and is the subject of an investigation by her former employer.
Fox News’ Scott Thompson and OutKick’s Armando Salguero contributed to this report.
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Sri Lanka’s government took control of the island’s cricket board on Wednesday and appointed a nine-member interim administration to carry out “structural reforms”.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the country’s wealthiest sporting body, but it has been plagued by allegations of corruption and mismanagement.
World governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), suspended Sri Lanka for two months in 2023-2024, citing political interference in the running of the national board.
“All administrative functions of Sri Lanka Cricket will be temporarily brought under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, effective today,” the ministry said.
Shortly afterwards, the ministry appointed former investment banker and opposition politician Eran Wickramaratne to lead the board.
Among the other members appointed by the government are former skipper Kumar Sangakkara and former Test players Sidath Wettimuny and Roshan Mahanama.
The ministry said the interim committee will “address the current issues in cricket and implement structural reforms”.
Four-time SLC president Shammi Silva resigned on Tuesday, along with his entire committee, after the government intervened.
AFP has contacted the ICC for comment.
Sri Lanka made an early exit from the T20 World Cup, which it co-hosted with India in February-March.
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