College football’s signing day is a time when the top high school players in the country let fans know where they will be playing next.

The early signing period for Division I recruits begins Wednesday and ends Friday.

Minnesota has a reputation for pumping out D-I recruits, but not many at the quarterback position.

A five-year drought will end Wednesday when Maple Grove’s Kaden Harney signs with South Dakota State.

Harney is believed to be the state’s first high school senior to sign a D-I football scholarship as a quarterback since Buffalo’s Aidan Bouman did with Iowa State in 2019.

Bouman, who finished his career at South Dakota, was also the last Minnesota QB to sign at the Football Bowl Subdivision level. Trey Lance from Marshall was in the 2018 class. He went from North Dakota State to the NFL.

The Gophers have signed only three in-state QBs on scholarship out of high school in the past 15 years, but none since Eden Prairie’s Cole Kramer in 2018. The two Minnesota signal-callers before that were both in the 2012 recruiting class with Mankato West’s Phillip Nelson and Lakeville South’s Mitch Leidner.

Jackson County Central senior quarterback Roman Voss, the No. 1-rated senior prospect in the state, could have an NFL future after joining the Gophers. But he is listed at the athlete position —a term that means it’s unclear which position he will play in college — and the four-star recruit will likely play tight end at the next level.

Four of the state’s best passing seniors this past season were Edina’s Mason West, Chanhassen’s Nathan Ramler, Minneapolis North’s Logan Lachermeier and Cretin-Derham Hall’s Izaak Johnson, who as a group combined for nearly 11,500 yards and 140 touchdowns.

None of those seniors will sign this week. West’s future is in pro hockey after a Prep Bowl run. Ramler, Lachermeier, and Johnson might have better arm talent but are being recruited mostly by D-III programs.

Besides Harney, former Stillwater standout Nick Kinsey was the other senior from Minnesota to commit as a D-I quarterback this year, but he’s expected to sign at Eastern Michigan after transferring to Bishop Hoban in Ohio.

Looking ahead, Moorhead junior Jett Feeney, who set a Prep Bowl record with 373 passing yards in a loss to Edina, is a prospect at the position, but getting D-I offers from the highest levels of college football could still be an uphill battle.

“Feeney was phenomenal,” West said. “He put on one of the best passing performances we’ll ever see in a Prep Bowl. But I don’t know if the Gophers are going to offer with the way QB recruiting is right now.”

What’s the issue?

This 2026 class could have been a historic one for Minnesota, with its depth of talented quarterbacks, but it instead became an example of what has arguably hindered the state from producing top recruits at football’s most high-profile position.

Football trainer Quinn Frisell, founder of 612 Quarterbacks, said limited exposure compared to warm-weather states like California, Georgia and Texas, along with preferred offensive schemes — Minnesota high schools are primarily run-heavy — play a big part in the lack of big-time QB recruiting.

“That’s a battle we fight every day,” said Frisell, who works with Harney, Johnson and other younger QBs. “One of the main things is QB-friendly offenses in Minnesota. It’s super-conservative with 80 to 90 percent triple option and Power T of some sort, with some schools with talented quarterbacks who can’t showcase their ability.”

On high school football’s biggest stage this season, some positions stood out more than QBs.

“This season once again proved Minnesota’s bread and butter,” said Oliver West, Midwest Scouting Director for Prep Redzone, the Plymouth-based recruiting and player rankings media company. “Linemen and running backs took over, especially in the Prep Bowl.”

Edina junior running back Chase Bjorgaard, also a hockey player, ran for a career-high 320 yards and tied a Prep Bowl record with six touchdowns in the Class 6A state championship game against Moorhead.

Minnesota not sending quarterbacks to D-I programs is also partly due to players eyeing other sports.

West, Edina’s 6-foot-7 hockey star, turned down D-I FBS offers to pursue hockey as an NHL first-round draft pick.

A year ago, the state’s best 2025 QB prospect was Alexandria’s Chase Thompson, who led his football program to the Class 5A Prep Bowl. Thompson, who in March led Alexandria to a Class 3A boys basketball state championship, was named Minnesota Mr. Basketball and now plays basketball at Clemson.

Minnehaha Academy’s Jalen Suggs was regarded by many as the No. 1 football and basketball prospect in Minnesota in the 2020 class, but he went to Gonzaga for hoops before making it in the NBA.

Switching positions

Power Four programs have flocked to small-town Minnesota in recent years not necessarily looking for QB talent.

Voss and Triton’s Pierce Petersohn could have developed into D-I quarterback prospects, but both won’t play the position at the next level.

Petersohn, at 6-5 and 200 pounds, played quarterback for Triton this past season. He recently switched his commitment from Penn State to sign with Virginia Tech and will play tight end like Voss, but he liked playing behind center.

“I kind of wanted to play QB at first,” Petersohn said about college. “But playing three sports [football, basketball and track], it was hard to really focus on it. I always thought I was going to play basketball in college, but I guess not. Then I see in college how especially tight ends were QBs in high school, and how that related [to me].”

The state’s overlooked quarterbacks can still find ways to succeed at the next level, even if it’s not at a D-I program. Trey Feeney, Jett’s older brother who also played at Moorhead, is currently quarterbacking a St. John’s team that’s playing in the third round of the NCAA Division III playoffs this weekend.

That might be the case for Harney, Ramler, Lachermeir, Johnson and others.

And the next in line.