With 10 days before National Signing Day, Indiana’s top recruits have exercised visits to the finest Division I college football programs. As the recruiting cycle focus shifts to the Class of 2026, college coaches have begun evaluating America’s top prospects.
Indiana Collective is the Hoosier state’s premier development program for national 7v7 football exposure at the prep level. Dozens of players with diverse attributes, backgrounds and destinations were invited to assemble for Sunday’s weekly practice session at The SportsZone in Indianapolis.
Fort Wayne Northrop receiver Jerquaden Guilford announced his commitment to Penn State during the early signing period on Dec. 6. Indiana’s No. 2 ranked junior (247Sports Composite) showcased elite hands during a Penn State camp last summer, then began to build strong relationships with the coaching staff. Fresh off the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance, the Nittany Lions currently boast the third ranked overall 2026 recruiting class.
“The relationship with their great coaching staff and they all just stayed consistent with me throughout my whole recruitment,” Guilford said. “They stayed consistent and they still are. I talk to them everyday.”
Big Ten talent requires showing up hours before scheduled workouts to fetch more reps.The 3-star receiver dedicated himself to making strides with his route tree and mastering hand-eye coordination. His tunnel vision became focused on learning the playbook and getting prepared to invest in his future education, football career, and lifestyle.
“Just to be college ready, to be in the right mental (state)” Guilford said. “Because a lot of people don’t make it in college. Not because they don’t have the body type or the texture, it is just that they are not mentally there. For me, it’s just getting mentally ready like the other guys.”
Across two varsity campaigns, Guilford has 61 catches for 930 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. Guilford turn contested catches into highlight-reel snags in traffic and glides during his routes to create separation like he is two steps ahead of his opponent.
Lawrence North sophomore Monshun Sales is the lone returning starter at wideout from the Class 6A Sectional 6 champion Wildcats stacked receiving corps. Indiana’s top ranked player in the Class of 2027 is taking a trip to Athens, Ga. this weekend for an unofficial visit with SEC champion Georgia.
Indy’s dual-threat athlete finished his sophomore campaign with 34 catches for 568 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns. Sales, the No. 6 ranked sophomore receiver and No. 25 overall by 247Sports Composite, planned to train to improve his route running and match his skill set with his 6-foot-3 frame this offseason.
The highly sought after, 4-star prospect has racked up 20 Division I offers, including Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Miami, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Tennessee, among others. Sales expressed how much he loved his visit to Columbia, Mo. on Jan. 18 after meeting with the Missouri coaching staff.
“It was a great experience,” Sales said. Got to meet with the (Missouri) coaches for the first time and get up there on the campus and experience everything. It was a great visit.”
Hamilton Southeastern’s Terry Walker III, the top ranked quarterback out of Indiana in the Class of ‘26, took an unofficial visit to Duke on Jan. 11. Walker was the only quarterback recruit on campus during Junior Day, so he recollected arriving in Durham at 8 a.m. to spend hours with Duke offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jonathan Brewer. The dual-sport athlete witnessed a blue blood basketball program for the first time as Duke defeated Notre Dame 86-78 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“The atmosphere at (Cameron Indoor Stadium) was amazing, too,” Walker said.
Indy’s 3-star signal caller has other offers from Ball State, Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina, and Miami (Ohio). Walker plans to spend this weekend visiting Virginia on Saturday, Feb. 1., then Miami (Ohio) on Sunday.
Walker threw 17 touchdowns and added four rushing scores for Lawrence Central last fall. He looked at ease while reading the field during 7-on-7 drills and encouraged the competitive atmosphere to strengthen his poise with a clean pocket. Walker credited his highly-touted receivers for pushing him to improve his passing and compete each week.
“We’ve got some dogs,” Walker said. “We’ve got Bama (Sales), we’ve got Qua (Guilford), two guys that have 20-plus offers and are big-time guys. We all push each other to be the best versions of us. It’s a great environment to be in. We are going to do a lot of winning this year.”
Fort Wayne Carroll receiver Jaidon Van Pelt attended Indiana’s Junior Day and mentioned he “loved the culture and environment” during his unofficial visit. After spending the weekend meeting Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan in Bloomington, Van Pelt slid through West Indy Sunday for Indiana Collective’s evening practice session.
“(Cignetti) is really well put together as a coach,” Van Pelt said. “He really has their players just really working hard and altogether, he’s just a really hard working coach.”
Van Pelt led the Class 6A Sectional 2 champion Chargers with 53 receptions for 789 receiving yards and finished second among juniors across Indiana with 14 receiving touchdowns. He acknowledged his objective this offseason was to improve gaining more yards after catches and refining his footwork. The Class of ‘26 recruit has received offers from Marshall and several MAC programs, including Akron, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, and Toledo, among others.