IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida is 7-0 in football this season, has outscored opponents 356 to 96, and was ranked No. 1 both nationally and in Florida by High School On SI in its October 8 update. The school's recruiting list looks different from its results. Of the 52 football recruits in the PrepRanks database, 33 are three-stars and only 14 are four or five-stars.
That gap is the subject here: how a team that wins like a juggernaut produces a recruiting class mostly made up of mid-tier ratings, and where its best prospects fit in.
The 2026 season so far
MaxPreps lists the Ascenders at 7-0 as of October 16, 2026, with a 4-0 home record and a 3-0 road record. The scoring margin is 356 points for and 96 against. Five of the seven wins came by at least 41 points.
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Aug. 21 | at Lone Peak | W 59-3 |
| Aug. 29 | Cornerstone Christian | W 59-10 |
| Sept. 5 | Saint Louis | W 41-0 |
| Sept. 18 | at The First Academy | W 48-27 |
| Sept. 25 | LSSS | W 56-7 |
| Oct. 3 | TSJPA | W 44-42 |
| Oct. 9 | at New Palestine | W 49-7 |
The two close games
The wins over The First Academy and The St. James Performance Academy account for most of the points IMG has allowed. Against The First Academy of Orlando on September 18, High School On SI reported that IMG had to rally from a 24-7 halftime deficit before winning 48-27. Quarterback Jayden Wade passed for 162 yards and three touchdowns in that game.
Against St. James on October 3, the margin was two points. High School On SI called the 44-42 result the biggest scare of the season, and reported that IMG needed a 47-yard field goal from Zach Brien with time running out. Those two games hold 69 of the 96 points IMG has given up, and the other five opponents scored 27 combined.
Recruits by class and star rating
IMG has 52 football recruits across the 2026, 2027 and 2028 classes: 20 in 2026, 12 in 2027 and 20 in 2028. By star rating there are 3 five-stars, 11 four-stars, 33 three-stars and 5 two-stars. The average PrepRanks Score is 73.3 out of 100.
A three-star in the PrepRanks system is not a weak player. The rating comes from the major recruiting services' composite plus an elite recognition bonus, and the methodology page explains the weighting. It does mean that IMG's reputation is carried by a handful of names and a large group of solid prospects behind them.
The top ten by PrepRanks Score
| Player | Class | Position | Score | National rank | Commitment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jayden Wade | 2028 | QB | 96.45 | 5 | Georgia |
| Keenyi Pepe | 2026 | OT | 95.79 | 15 | USC |
| Eric McFarland | 2027 | WR | 91.63 | 38 | Texas A&M |
| Osani Gayles | 2027 | WR | 89.22 | 58 | Alabama |
| Jake Kreul | 2026 | EDGE | 88.11 | 58 | Oklahoma |
| Nation Farmer | 2028 | IOL | 85.86 | 67 | Uncommitted |
| Jackson Vaughn | 2027 | EDGE | 81.41 | 109 | Notre Dame |
| DJ Alexander | 2028 | LB | 81.07 | 99 | Uncommitted |
| Aaryn Washington | 2027 | CB | 80.33 | 125 | USC |
| Censere Gaylord | 2027 | CB | 80.08 | 133 | Washington |
Wade is the one prospect who ties the recruiting list to the 7-0 team. He is a 2028 quarterback, the No. 5 national player in our rankings and the No. 2 quarterback, and he has committed to Georgia. He is also the player High School On SI named when describing IMG's comeback against The First Academy.
The numbers drop quickly after the top three. The third-ranked player, McFarland, scores 91.63, and the tenth, Gaylord, scores 80.08. Every player in the top ten is a four-star or five-star, so the 33 three-stars all sit below that line.
Class by class
The class of 2026 has 20 recruits and the two highest-rated are Pepe, a five-star offensive tackle committed to USC, and Kreul, a four-star edge rusher committed to Oklahoma. The next player in that class, safety Zech Fort, is a four-star at 76.45 who committed to Georgia, and after him the class is made of three-stars: interior lineman Breck Kolojay (USC), interior lineman G'Nivre Carr (Florida), safety Amari Jones (USF) and defensive lineman James Morrow, who is uncommitted.
The class of 2027 has 12 recruits and is the strongest at the top, with seven of its 12 rated four-star or better. McFarland, Gayles, Vaughn, Washington and Gaylord are all listed in the top ten above, and linebacker Amarri Irvin (77.98, Virginia Tech) and cornerback Larry Moon (76.43, Georgia Tech) are also four-stars.
The class of 2028 also has 20 recruits. Wade is committed, but the next three, Farmer at 85.86, Alexander at 81.07 and cornerback Phoenix Evans at 76.49, are all uncommitted, as are most of the other names on the class list. That class is the one with the most movement ahead of it, because commitment status and ratings can still change.
The 14 four and five-stars
The elite group is small enough to list. The three five-stars are Wade, Pepe and McFarland, one each from the 2028, 2026 and 2027 classes. The eleven four-stars are Gayles, Kreul, Farmer, Vaughn, Alexander, Washington, Gaylord, Fort, Irvin, Moon and Evans. By position, the four-stars are four cornerbacks (Washington, Gaylord, Moon and Evans), two edge rushers (Kreul and Vaughn), two linebackers (Alexander and Irvin), and one each at wide receiver (Gayles), interior line (Farmer) and safety (Fort). Cornerback is the position where IMG's four-star depth is greatest, while the full list of recruits is built around the lines.
That works out to a school where about one recruit in four is rated four stars or higher. The rest of the list is where IMG's depth shows, and where the average score of 73.3 comes from.
Across all 52 recruits, defensive line is the most common position at 11, followed by interior offensive line at 9, cornerback at 8, wide receiver at 7 and safety at 4. The linemen make up 20 of the 52 recruits, so the largest block of IMG's list is the least visible on the scoreboard. Wade and the wide receivers are the names that show up in game coverage, but the numbers show a school that sends more lineman prospects than anything else.
Where the recruits commit
No single college dominates. The Georgia Bulldogs and USC Trojans lead with 3 commits each. The Washington Huskies, Colorado, Florida State and Maryland have 2 each, and Texas A&M, Alabama, Oklahoma and Notre Dame each have 1 in the top ten destinations.
Florida State is the only Florida program in the top ten destinations, and its two commits are a small number for a school in the same state. IMG's recruits go nationwide, and no destination has more than three.
Below the top ten destinations the list gets wider. The class lists include commits to Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, Wake Forest, Indiana, Florida and USF, which means IMG's three-stars are finding homes at a mix of Power Four programs and smaller ones, not only at the schools that sign the five-stars.
Counterpoint
A large pool of three-stars is not a weakness for IMG. A star rating comes from how national services see a player at one moment, and a team that is 7-0 with 356 points scored is clearly getting production from players that no recruiting list highlights. A rating is also a snapshot, and the three-stars in the list can be re-ranked by the services.
The results also come with caveats. Two of the seven games were close, and High School On SI's own ranking text lists IMG's record differently in two places in the same article, 5-0 in the introduction and 6-0 in the ranking entry. MaxPreps has the Ascenders at 7-0, which is the figure used here.
Watch and follow
IMG Academy's football page is on NFHS Network. The replay of the September 18 game at The First Academy, the rally from 24-7 down, is the most informative one available: IMG at The First Academy on NFHS Network. The full schedule and results are on the MaxPreps team page.