Meet the top football recruits and commits playing for Butler County schools in the 2026 season
The high school football season is under three weeks from kickoff. While Butler County doesn’t have any five-star college recruits, the area does have a group of players who could be suiting up on Saturdays in the near future, including one who’s already committed to play at a Division I school.
Organized alphabetically, meet some of them here.
Baggetta has attended camps at Bucknell, Edinboro, Miami (Ohio), Indiana (Pa.) and Slippery Rock University. He visited The Rock for a game last fall.
Baggetta, a dual-threat signal-caller, passed for 1,375 yards and 12 touchdowns last fall, adding 470 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. However, he’s still waiting on offers and head coach Eric Christy said he believes Baggetta projects better as a safety at the next level.
Beres has collected offers from Washington & Jefferson and West Liberty and attended prospect camps at California (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.) and Slippery Rock University. According to his X account, he had 72 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, four sacks and a forced fumble last season.
Cuffman, who also plays for Butler’s baseball team and could opt to play that sport at the next level instead, has “talked to some schools briefly, like Geneva and St. Vincent.”
Cullieton, the Trojans’ lone returning starter on the offensive line, has an offer from Allegheny.
“Joey’s a returning center, and last year we kinda had him on one side of the ball because he was nursing a little bit of an injury,” Trojans coach Chris Rizzo said. “But he seems to be fully back from that, so we’re excited to see what he does on both sides of the ball.”
Dunaway was a first-team all-conference honoree on the defensive side of the ball last season. He’s still waiting for offers, but “went to a couple mega camps over the summer and had some Division III interest with some camp invites and upcoming visits,” he said.
According to his X account, Garvin had 85 tackles, 19 tackles for loss, four sacks, an interception and two forced fumbles as a junior. He attended prospect camps at Duquesne, Kent State and Lafayette this summer.
He had a game-day visit to Cornell last fall.
Hunt is committed to Albany, but Slippery Rock University was a close second, he said at last week’s Butler Eagle Football Media Day. He also had offers from Clarion, Edinboro, Robert Morris, West Liberty and Wheeling.
Johnston passed for 1,232 yards and 13 touchdowns a season ago, adding 734 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. He’s been offered by Grove City College, visited Mount Union and “been talking to IUP and Slippery Rock (University).”
Kollinger is still deciding whether or not he wants to play football at the next level but has talked to a handful of programs — including Edinboro, Geneva and St. Vincent — about the possibility.
Kollinger paced the Golden Tornado with 70 total tackles as a junior.
Noah, who stands 6 feet and weighs around 285 pounds, can deadlift 600 pounds, squat 515 pounds and bench 300 pounds.
“He’s very light on his feet for a kid that size,” Knoch head coach T.J. Wiley said. “And that’s what colleges look for in their offensive linemen. ... If Makai were 6-3, I’d have IUP, Cal, Slippery Rock on the phone.”
Ithaca College invited Noah to its spring game. Geneva College has also asked Wiley about him.
Rumbaugh hasn’t collected any offers just yet but has received interest from and attended a prospect camp at Clarion.
“Other camps I’ve attended this year are Slippery Rock, IUP and St. Vincent,” he said.
Simko, who led the Golden Tornado with 457 receiving yards last season, has been in touch with “several schools for football and lacrosse,” he said. On the gridiron, a number of PSAC programs have shown interest, as well as D-III John Carroll and Denison.
Denison is also looking at Simko as a lacrosse player.
Shriver, a track standout who ran the 400 meters in 52.24 seconds, has “talked to Allegheny College for football,” he said. “A couple colleges like Slippery Rock, for example, said I could do both football and track.” He has his eye on attending Indiana (Pa.), but plans on being a dual-sport athlete wherever he lands.
Toprani, an Allegheny commit, also visited St. Vincent and was invited to prospect camps at Cincinnati, Concord, Eastern Illinois, Indiana (Pa.), Mercer, Slippery Rock University and Valparaiso.
“He’s the guy that we’ve kind of passed the keys to,” Rizzo said. “Learned behind Joey (Felitsky) for the last year.”
According to his X account, Waskiewicz put up 53 grabs for 900 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He’s garnered Division II offers from Edinboro, Glenville State, Indiana (Pa.).
“It’s not about, like, ‘Are we getting him the ball?’ It’s about how we’re gonna get him the ball,” Rizzo said. “Because with a dynamic receiving corps last year, Will will tell you that he flew under the radar, but his stats probably contradict that a little bit.”
Wiley, an all-conference honorable mention last season, has offers from Bethany, Thiel and Washington & Jefferson. He also worked out at a prospect camp at Allegheny.
“In a matter of three weeks back in May, he got three offers,” coach and dad T.J. Wiley said. “It was just like, ‘Bang, bang, bang.’ And from that, there’s some other schools that have been interested in him. St. Vincent College invited him down for a personal visit. He had a great time there. Buffalo State is inviting him up.”
