Iowa State Football earned its latest commitment to the 2026 class Friday in Millard South quarterback Jett Thomalla.
“The relationships with coaches was a big thing when I was there,” Thomalla said. “It felt like home to me, just being able to talk to those guys.”
The four-star prospect announced the news over social media.
Cyclone Nation, I’m home!!🌪️🌪️🌪️@taylorMendy93 @MSouthFootball @CycloneFB @CoachJWaters @ISUMattCampbell pic.twitter.com/CE6l8E4V62
— Jett Thomalla (@JettThomalla) April 18, 2025
Thomalla is rated as as the No. 16 quarterback in the class by 247 Sports and the No. 231 prospect overall.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound recruit chose Iowa State over offers from Iowa, Arizona, Missouri, Duke, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Colorado State, Arkansas State, UNLV, and San Diego State.
During his visit to Ames, Thomalla roomed with wide receivers Brett Eskildsen and Dom Overby.
“They were really cool, that was a big part too,” Thomalla said. “That, and the culture. When I got with the players, all I heard was great things about how the coaches act when (recruits) aren’t around.“
Iowa State hopes Thomalla can turn into a quarterback as steady and talented as both Brock Purdy and Rocco Becht have been in Ames.
“It just proves that they can produce guys – they didn’t get them out of the transfer portal or anything,” Thomalla said. “They can get a quarterback out of high school and put them in the NFL.”
Thomalla said that Iowa State showed him slides of plays they run currently with Becht that compare side-by-side to plays that his Millard South team runs.
He becomes the second player from Millard South to commit in the 2026 class, joining his No. 1 wide receiver in Amarion Jackson.
“I was pretty high on Iowa State before he committed and after he did, it kind’ve boosted it a little bit,” Thomalla said. “He’s one of my best friends. We hangout quite a bit and it’d be cool to room with him (at Iowa State).”
The Cyclones are also among the top choices for Millard South tight end Isaac Jensen, and the pair of teammates hope to push Jensen to Ames in the future.
“We hang out with him a bunch, too, so that’s the plan, obviously,” Thomalla said. “I really hope he does (commit). He’s got a couple other official visits scheduled, but we’re recruiting him pretty hard.”
What it means: Iowa State was once again able to grab its top quarterback target for the class, and one that emerged here over the past year in Thomalla.
This is familiar territory for the staff, and really has become the expectation since Rocco Becht signed as part of the 2022 class.
Since then, the Cyclones took J.J. Kohl (who was a 4-star, but is now at Appalachian State), Connor Moberly, another four-star in Alex Manske and now add the Nebraska product.
While Iowa State is secure at the position for this season with Becht, there’s never such a thing as having too many quarterbacks and that’s only become more true with what’s going on with the portal.
The 2026 class: The class is now ranked at No. 14 in the country by 247 Sports. I typically refrain from making a big deal out of class rankings in the moment, especially because of the unpredictability, but it’s not a bad sign that this might be the highest I’ve seen Iowa State at any time since I started on the beat a few years ago.
Thomalla’s commitment also gives the Cyclones their sixth prospect out of the top nine recruits (by 247 Sports’ rankings) in Nebraska. And, Iowa State is targeting each of the other three – one of which happens to play tight end at the same school as Thomalla (Isaac Jensen).
“Obviously, they see a lot of talent here in Nebraska,” Thomalla said. “Hopefully we all have great careers. I think it’s cool that we’re all going to have something in common. It’s gonna be fun.”
Current top 9 Nebraska prospects in the 2026 class by 247 Sports
1. QB Jett Thomalla, Iowa State commit
2. CB Darion Jones, Iowa State target
3. OL Leighton Burbach, Iowa State target
4. ATH Amarion Jackson, Iowa State commit
5. ATH Kaprice Keith, Iowa State commit
6. TE Isaac Jensen, Iowa State target
7. LB Barry Fries, Iowa State commit
8. LB Keian Kaiser, Iowa State commit
9. S Tyrell Chatman, Iowa State commit
Thomalla becomes the 13th addition to the 2026 class, and will serve as the lone quarterback in the group.
Iowa State’s ’26 recruiting class
QB | Jett Thomalla, Nebraska
RB | Caleb Francois, Minnesota
WR | Milan Parris, Ohio
WR | Jeffrey Roberts, Iowa (Ames)
OL | Mason Bandhauer, Colorado
OL | Ethan Beckman, Minnesota
DT | Daniel Howard, Illinois
LB | Keian Kaiser, Nebraska
LB | Barry Fries, Nebraska
DB | Tyrell Chatman, Nebraska
S | Brayden Thomas, Ohio
ATH |Kaprice Keith, Nebraska
ATH | Amarion Jackson, Nebraska
