Three boards, one region

Central Florida opens its 2026 season this week. Recruit Intel built three verified boards for the region: the best player at every position, the recruits holding real offers with no star rating anywhere, and the programs producing the most Division 1 offers. Every number below comes from our canonical database and is stated with the sample it rests on. One note on the map: our Central Florida region follows the database tag, which centers on the Orlando metro and reaches out to Ocala, Lakeland, Lake Wales, Sanford, and the Space Coast around Cocoa and Melbourne.

The best at every position

One player per position slot across the 2027 through 2029 classes. These nine hold 275 verified Division 1 offers between them. Offer counts are distinct college offers, re-verified against the current roster on 2026-08-16. We hold the cornerback slot open rather than fill it: no corner in the current pool cleared our bar for a ranked line this early in the season, and we would rather leave the spot empty than pad the board.

  • QB, Jackson Stecher, Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs), class of 2028. Committed to Buffalo, 28 verified offers.
  • RB, Sergarion Gunsby, Vanguard (Ocala), class of 2027. Committed to Toledo, 25 verified offers.
  • WR, James Bethea, Vanguard (Ocala), class of 2027. Committed to Bethune-Cookman, 45 verified offers, the most of any player on this board.
  • TE, Owen Sullivan, St. Cloud (St. Cloud), class of 2027. Committed to Rhode Island, 12 verified offers.
  • OL, Reed Ramsier, The First Academy (Orlando), class of 2027. Committed to Auburn, 38 verified offers. Linemen are ranked on offer volume.
  • DL, Santana Harvey, Lakeland (Lakeland), class of 2027. Committed to Clemson, 38 verified offers.
  • LB, Tamaj Woodard, Mainland (Daytona Beach), class of 2027. 21 verified offers.
  • S, Demetre Pryor, Evans (Orlando), class of 2028. 33 verified offers.
  • ATH, Kaneilius Purdy, Lake Wales (Lake Wales), class of 2027. Committed to UCF, 35 verified offers.

Vanguard, out of Ocala, supplied the two skill headliners. James Bethea leads the board with 45 offers and a commitment to Bethune-Cookman, and running back Sergarion Gunsby adds 25 and a Toledo pledge. Two committed linemen sit right behind them, Reed Ramsier to Auburn and Santana Harvey to Clemson, both at 38.

The recruits the rankings have not caught

These ten hold 86 verified Division 1 offers between them and carry zero stars on 247Sports, On3, Rivals and ESPN as of 2026-08-16. It is a ratings gap, not a discovery claim: the programs recruiting these players found them first. All ten are 2028s.

  1. Jaden Irons, CB, St. Cloud (St. Cloud), 2028. 22 offers.
  2. Octavius Lewis, LB, Edgewater (Orlando), 2028. 11 offers.
  3. Axzavious Hawkins, WR, Cocoa (Cocoa), 2028. 9 offers.
  4. Antayvion Johnson, WR, Eau Gallie (Melbourne), 2028. 8 offers.
  5. Jacob McDonald, WR, Lake Brantley (Altamonte Springs), 2028. 8 offers.
  6. Javeon Scott, RB, Cocoa (Cocoa), 2028. 7 offers.
  7. Blake McCullough, QB, Bishop Moore Catholic (Orlando), 2028. 6 offers.
  8. Jaden Parks, WR, Mainland (Daytona Beach), 2028. 6 offers.
  9. Elyias Wilson, LB, Cocoa (Cocoa), 2028. 5 offers.
  10. Jayden Maull, WR, Cocoa (Cocoa), 2028. 4 offers.

Jaden Irons leads the board by a wide margin. He is a 2028 cornerback at St. Cloud with 22 offers and no star rating at any service, the same slot the position board held open. Cocoa places four names on this list, more than any other school.

The programs producing the offers

Recruit Intel ranked the region's top 10 high schools by offers produced across their 2023 through 2026 classes. Across those 10 schools sit 103 recruits holding 952 Division 1 offers between them, an average of about 9 offers per recruited player.

  1. Lakeland (Lakeland): 182 offers across 22 recruits
  2. Jones (Orlando): 153 offers across 15 recruits
  3. Edgewater (Orlando): 139 offers across 14 recruits
  4. The First Academy (Orlando): 114 offers across 10 recruits
  5. Seminole (Sanford): 79 offers across 12 recruits
  6. Cocoa (Cocoa): 67 offers across 10 recruits
  7. Eau Gallie (Melbourne): 62 offers across 3 recruits
  8. Evans (Orlando): 53 offers across 8 recruits
  9. Apopka (Apopka): 52 offers across 5 recruits
  10. West Orange (Winter Garden): 51 offers across 4 recruits

Lakeland runs away with the region at 182 offers across 22 players, and the same program produced the position board's Clemson-bound lineman. Eau Gallie is the efficiency outlier, 62 offers from just 3 recruited players.

How we counted

Every number here comes from the Recruit Intel canonical database. Offer counts are distinct college offers per player rather than raw offer rows. Every player named on the position board and the unrated board was resolved to a single database record by id before publish, then re-verified against the current roster on 2026-08-16 for class year, school, offer count and star status at all four major services. Common names return many separate records, so we never match on a name and school alone.

The position board is the best player at each slot across the 2027 through 2029 classes, ranked on a blend of production and offers, with linemen ranked on offers alone. One slot, cornerback, is held open this cycle because no candidate cleared the bar for a ranked line. The unrated board is limited to 2028 and 2029 players who carry real offers and no star at any service.

Kickoff is this week

Central Florida opens the 2026 season this week, one of the Recruit Intel regional preseason previews rolling out in kickoff order. The unrated board above is dated on purpose. When these players get rated or add their next offer, the timestamp on this page is the receipt.