Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has three predictions on a finalist for five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons, whether there will be a change atop the cornerback rankings and if there will be more five-star receivers coming in the 2026 class:

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to the recruitment of five-star quarterback Ryder Lyons which makes things even more interesting but there has been a lot of chatter about Ole Miss once again in his recruitment.

At one point, it looked like the Folsom, Calif., star quarterback was all but set for USC. But then four-star Jonas Williams flipped from Oregon to the Trojans. Still, Lyons visited USC after that pledge although that ship might have sailed.

Oregon remains a serious contender but everything seems on hold there until five-star Jared Curtis makes up his mind on whether he’s picking the Ducks or Georgia.

BYU is a real option because of Lyons’ faith and he likes the situation there and then Michigan and Ohio State are getting serious looks as he especially likes the idea of coming in, learning under Bryce Underwood and then competing for the starting job in Ann Arbor.

But Ole Miss has been sticking around very strongly as well. There has been some whispers that Lyons isn’t crazy about the location but his relationship with coach Lane Kiffin is strong, we’ve written often that Lyons is a Jaxson Dart clone but further advanced at the same stage and playing in that offense is a major draw.

It was a big sign that Lyons recently returned to Oxford with his mother as it seemed like the Rebels were slipping a little bit but now they’re very much back in it and will be a finalist in his recruitment.

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Elbert Hill is a phenomenal talent and has the ability to stay on top of the cornerback rankings but there are just too many elite, athletic, long cornerbacks in this class to turn them down and not shake up the five-star rankings at that spot.

Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon’s Havon Finney Jr. reclassified from the 2027 class and he has an argument to move into that No. 1 spot especially after some elite offseason performances.

But there are some high four-stars who really could make a major move up. Cornelius (N.C.) Hough’s Samari Matthews has been tremendous this offseason, arguably the best couple months of any cornerback in the class, as he’s been an interception machine at events.

USC commit Brandon Lockhart remains one of the smoothest and most fluid cornerbacks around and Alabama pledge Jorden Edmonds is really the one that could move up even higher. He was outstanding at the Navy All-American Bowl but there are some slow, head-scratcher track times that don’t seem to line up with his fluidity on the field.

Either way, rankings change all the time and cornerback is a spot that will get disrupted ahead of signing day.

There are already four five-star receivers in the 2026 class in LSU commit Tristen Keys, Cederian Morgan, Ethan “Boobie” Feaster and Ohio State commit Chris Henry Jr. but there will be more – and maybe some movement among the five-stars as well as Henry has a ton to prove in the coming months.

We don’t want to go overboard – and we want to consider NFL Draft trends – but there are four wide receivers and four slot receivers who are one notch from five-star status.

It would be shocking if Tennessee commit Tyreek King, Georgia pledge Vance Spafford or Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s Kayden Dixon-Wyatt wasn’t heavily in the discussion for a five-star bump in the coming months.