Iowa football to welcome top-ranked freshman class for National Signing Day

IOWA CITY — There’s a new group of Hawkeyes that are joining the program Wednesday, and Iowa City West senior Julian Manson is already itching to join his new teammates.

Iowa football takes part in National Signing Day on Wednesday, officially welcoming 18 scholarship athletes and a handful of walk-ons to the swarm. The Hawkeyes have seven four-star recruits from 247sports’ November rankings, including three players inside the nation’s top 250 recruits in the class of 2026.

This year, Iowa has the No. 22 ranked recruiting class per 247sports.

“It's been surreal just to go to the program that my dad played at,” Manson told The Gazette. “And now he's coaching, so it's just like, full-circle moment for me.”

Manson committed to Iowa in June, and is one of two Iowa City West athletes to join the Hawkeyes in 2026 — the other being offensive lineman Colin Whitters. Manson’s the son of Hawkeyes senior football analyst and assistant offensive coach, Jason Manson, who also wore the black and gold.

Whitters, despite playing as an interior lineman, scored an 8-yard touchdown during his senior year in an October regular-season game against Muscatine. Whitters will join Iowa’s offensive line next season.

Manson joins the program in January, and has already been growing closer with his first-year teammates. He said the group chat’s already been created, with them all already getting to know one another before stepping foot on campus.

“We've been pretty tight,” Manson said. “It's exciting to know that we can work together to get to, like, a common goal that we all have in mind.”

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Iowa’s six instate recruits include three-star tight end Luke Brewer, from Norwalk, who reclassified earlier this year before committing to the Hawkeyes earlier this season. Brewer was initially recruited for Iowa’s 2027 class before his decision to reclassify to 2026.

The Hawkeyes added future defensive lineman Jack Janda, originally from Orchard Lake, Mich., to the signing class Tuesday afternoon. Janda had initially committed to Wisconsin as a tight end, but announced he flipped schools via social media.

Janda is one of 13 incoming freshmen joining the program from out-of-state.

Iowa will have a quarterback sign with the team, Tradon Bessinger. Bessinger was initially committed Boise State, but announced he received an offer from Iowa earlier this year. He announced his new commitment to the Hawkeyes in November.

Though there aren’t any scholarship running backs joining the program, the Hawkeyes welcome three wide receivers: four-star Brody Schaffer, and three-stars Xavier Stinson and Diondre Smith. All three receivers come from beyond the Iowa state lines, with Stinson and Smith both hailing from Florida.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz will speak on the 2026 recruitment class Wednesday afternoon, alongside Hawkeyes’ general manager Tyler Barnes.

Manson said his goal is to help bring a Big Ten championship to Iowa, and continuing to push the program into the national spotlight once he gets to step on the field.

For now, he’ll get ready for his first practice in the new year.

“I just want to take maximize my opportunities,” he said. “I feel like Iowa’s known for consistently having at least eight wins. But I want to be bigger than that and grow the program.”

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