2026 West River Hidden Gems to Watch this Fall

A 2026 linebacker that impressed me out of nowhere during our last 2026 rankings update was Rapid City STM's [player_tooltip player_id='1592136' first='Josh' last='Elder']. He has a quick twitch off the snap and just as quick with his processing time with use of his vision to the ball carrier. When you watch Josh's pursuit angles, you can grasp quickly how well-versed his football IQ appears to be and flashed ideal next-level linebacker size already at 6'1 220 pounds. With Rapid City St. Thomas More rising quickly in 11B, hopefully more flood gates of college coaches come Josh's way as they will find with him and others, there is plenty of next-level talent to see within the Cavaliders program. No offers as of yet, which is quite surprise     Another West River 2026 athlete that also was a new addition in our last 2026 rankings update in South Dakota, was [player_tooltip player_id='1592624' first='Nick' last='Schroeder'] out of Hill City and the live eval I got at camp in Aberdeen wasn't too shabby either. The 5'11 160 pound strong safety for the Rangers shows off quickly that you shouldn't underestimate his size, as this young man has some pluck downhill when he makes contact as I even felt too this summer that Nick at camp played bigger than the measurables show off as a DB prospect that showed off eye-catching range. You can expect Nick to travel sideline to sideline to find a ball carrier, but also has intriguing athletic ability in pass coverage. No offers as of yet, but if I were a NAIA recruiter in the Dakotas I would certainly take a look at Nick for my secondary.     Connor was one I got to watch last Friday night against Winner, as the two-way athlete for the Hot Springs Bison surely showed why he's going to be a stockriser when I do our next rankings update. His well-versed vision is complentary seen on both sides of the ball on his Week 1 tape at linebacker and running back. He's quite fluid when he finds space in the open field similar to a train heading down a hill. The 6'1 203 pounder as you might guess also shows off durability for getting yards after contact as another athlete on our 2026 West River list that plays much bigger than the measurables show off. Connor is another one that still is awaiting that first offer but I expect his interest to grow over these coming few weeks.     There is a reason why I picked Wall as my top team in the South Dakota Power 5 poll as this might be the Eagles best year since PRZ Dakotas has been around for next-level talent, which includes running back [player_tooltip player_id='1422350' first='Jace' last='Mohr']. He is one that I feel does not get enough credit for how agile he is between the tackles as he creates open space extremely well and gets downhill quickly after it. Even with how agile Jace constantly shows off to be, I still get a great sense that he's still patient in waiting for his offensive linemen to pave his way thru the line. The 5'11 190 pounder is also more durable than I feel he gets credit for as you can tell Jace can also run thru defenders as well. Another one that I am super surprsied someone hasn't pulled the trigger yet with an offer.     Layne was a first-team All Metro and All-Black Hills offensive linemen during the 2024 season and still is awaiting his first offer. The 6'1 265 pounder out of Rapid City Central, displays the quick hands and leverage that you want to see right away on tape. The amount of times you will see Layne driving the defensive linemen into the second level comes in as a high percentage as you can tell this young man carries the blue-collar demeanor on every block as one that is constantly blocking to the whistle. He has plenty of strength in those hands and yet still has upside as far as growing his pad-level even more which tells me that Layne's best football is right ahead of him. Surely another West River prospect that should grab attention from local D2 and NAIA schools.