Shakopee football standouts Blake Betton and Nehemiah Ombati jumped in a car the day after defeating Lakeville South at home last week to take an unofficial visit together to Iowa State.

The Cyclones beat rival Iowa on Saturday in Ames, but the highlight for Ombati was receiving an Iowa State scholarship offer after the weekend, joining Betton, who already had one.

“I’m the type of person to not be satisfied, so when things go good [in recruiting] I just want more,” Ombati said. “It’s good to have a guy like Blake in our program. He has more opportunities than me, but I like to shoot toward that type of goal.”

Among other top Class of 2027 Minnesota prospects who visited Iowa State on Saturday were Moorhead standouts Jett Feeney, David Mack and Zak Walker.

“It was really good,” Feeney said. “Amazing atmosphere there.”

Juniors dominate Strib Varsity’s early list of the top 20 uncommitted high school football prospects in Minnesota.

Most of the state’s top seniors are already off the recruiting board, including future Gophers Roman Voss of Jackson County Central, Howie Johnson of Forest Lake and Andrew Trout of Rocori and several other Division I prospects. Here’s the uncommitted top 20, with the top prospect in each class first and then in alphabetical order:

Class of 2026

Jayden Moore

Hopkins • wide receiver

The top receiver in his class after one season of high school football, Moore hasn’t decided if he’ll pursue basketball — he has offers from the Gophers among many Division I programs — or football in college, but he has Big Ten football offers from the Gophers, Iowa and Illinois.

Jack Morrisette

Alexandria • defensive line

The 6-5, 240-pound Morrisette has scholarship offers from Illinois State and South Dakota and also has received interest from more than a handful of other Division I programs.

Noah Spears

Maple Grove • offensive line

A 6-4, 290-pound senior, Spears transferred from a school in Tennessee to the Crimson and already had a D-I offer from Southern Miss.

Simon Vinton

Orono • defensive line

Vinton, 6-5 and 250 pounds, led Class 4A with 10 sacks as a junior. He was offered a scholarship by St. Thomas and picked up his first FBS offer this summer, from Central Michigan.

Class of 2027

Blake Betton

Shakopee • safety/linebacker

The 6-3, 210-pound Betton, the No. 2 player in the 2027 class by Prep Redzone behind Wayzata’s Gophers commit Eli Diane, has the best offers of any uncommitted prospect in the state, including from the Gophers, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and Iowa State.

Jett Feeney

Moorhead • quarterback

The 6-1 Feeney has arguably the best combination of arm talent and accuracy of any QB in the state, so no surprise he has D-I offers and interest from FBS schools Iowa State and Northwestern.

De’Mandre Frierson-Hollie

Cretin-Derham Hall • tight end/defensive end

The 6-5, 235-pound Frierson-Hollie’s freaky athleticism and length shown as a basketball player have made him an intriguing football prospect for D-I schools as well, including the Gophers.

Caden Gutzmer

Minnetonka • quarterback

The 6-2 Gutzmer wowed scouts during the camp circuit even before earning a starting spot, which led to D-I offers from South Dakota and Sacramento State.

Joseph Hamer

Lakeville South • offensive line

The 6-7, 345-pound tackle has been an intimidating physical force for the Cougars’ enormous offensive line, which helped him pick up an Iowa State offer.

David Mack

Moorhead • wide receiver

The speedy 6-foot Mack, who had a 93-yard touchdown catch in his first game, is the best receiver in his class and has offers from the Gophers and South Dakota State.

Aiden Moriarty

Springfield • athlete

The Gophers, Northwestern, North Dakota State and South Dakota are showing interest in the 6-3, 260-pound Moriarty, who was among his team’s leading tacklers and receivers and also punted for the Prep Bowl Class 1A runner-up last season.

Nehemiah Ombati

Shakopee • defensive line

The 6-2, 275-pound Waconia transfer became the fifth player in the 2027 class with a Power Four offer this week, from Iowa State. He adds that to offers from South Dakota State, North Dakota State and North Dakota.

Taye Reich

Moorhead • running back

Reich was the first player in the 2027 class to receive a D-I offer, from Kansas State. P.J. Fleck and the Gophers offered this summer, as did Iowa State.

Martin Sleen

Hermantown • running back

Sleen, who scored eight touchdowns and averaged 16 yards per carry in his first two games this year, has received interest from North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Miami (Ohio), Yale and Wyoming.

Zak Walker

Moorhead • defensive back

Walker gets overshadowed by the Spuds’ Big Three in his own class, but he has a North Dakota State offer and Gophers interest.

Class of 2028

Tre Moore

Hopkins • quarterback

Not the biggest at 5-11 and 175 pounds, but the No. 1 prospect in the 2028 class already has put up big numbers this season with 334 passing yards and three TDs in Game 1 against Edina.

Cooper Allen

Caledonia • linebacker/defensive line

Hall of Fame Caledonia coach Carl Fruechte called the 6-3, 200-pound sophomore “physical and long,” attributes that helped Allen make 24 tackles in his first two games.

Jacob English

Crosby-Ironton • defensive end/tight end

The 6-4, 225-pound English is a two-way starter and also starts at forward on the basketball team.

Bitan Gatwech

Faribault • offensive/defensive line

At 6-5 and 260 pounds, Gatwech was a man-child as a freshman on varsity last season. He’s becoming a force off the edge and racking up pancake blocks.

Class of 2029

Jayden Bates

Eden Prairie • defensive line

Bates, 6-3 and 215 pounds, became the first Minnesota player to receive an offer from the Gophers out of middle school since former Cretin-Derham Hall star Seantrel Henderson more than a decade ago.