Nevada POP Rankings 2026: Top 10 at Every Position Through Week 9

These are not opinion rankings. Nobody at SPIN picks who is No. 1. POP, Production Over Potential, is calculated from what each player has actually done this season, game by game, from the box scores of his games, weighed for who he did it against and where. Stars, offers, highlight tapes and reputation are not in the math. Two things are: what he produced, and the competition he produced it against.

That is why big numbers against weak opponents do not rank high here, and why a big game against a great opponent is the most valuable thing on these boards. Consistency counts too: a full season of steady games is worth more than one monster night surrounded by quiet ones. The rules are set before the numbers come in, and they apply to every player in every region the same way.

Below: the Top 10 at every position across Nevada through Week 9, games of Oct. 8 to 10 included, plus the Two-Way board. This is the first Nevada board. It covers every NIAA class with a rated player, 5A through 2A, north and south. The full Top 25 at every position, a Top 10 for every class and every rated player in the state live on the Player Rankings tab, updated every Wednesday at noon.

What to know about the first Nevada board

• One 99. Tamatoa Gaoteote of Bishop Gorman, 83 solo tackles, 22 tackles for loss, nine sacks and two interceptions in seven games, sits at 99 at linebacker. He is one of seven players at 99 across the five regions SPIN rates. Caleb Lea'Ea of Bishop Gorman, 94 on the defensive line, and Tausa'Afia Taufa-Langi of Bishop Gorman, 93 at linebacker, are the only other Nevada players above 92.
• Bishop Gorman holds 18 of the 70 Top 10 spots across the seven position boards. Faith Lutheran holds nine, Liberty of Henderson eight, Arbor View five, Damonte Ranch four. Sixty-five of the 70 belong to 5A programs; Felix Romero of Clark (4A) at running back and four 3A players, three of them tight ends, are the rest.
• The north holds 14 of the 70. Damonte Ranch has four, Spanish Springs, Reed, McQueen and Bishop Manogue two each, Spring Creek and Churchill County one each. The north owns the tight end board: five of the ten, including the top three, Miah Milan of Damonte Ranch, Braden McDonald of Spanish Springs and Chase Beck of McQueen.
• Miah Milan is on three boards. No. 1 at tight end, 51 catches for 597 yards and five touchdowns; No. 6 at linebacker, 24 tackles for loss and 10 sacks; No. 1 on the Two-Way board at 86. He is a sophomore.
• The Two-Way board is where 3A shows up. Five of the ten play in 3A, three of them from Churchill County of Fallon: Maxton Richardson, Alijah Juarez and Calin Anderson. Louden Cahill of Basic, No. 7 at receiver, is No. 2 at 81.
• Defensive backs now qualify with four games. A defensive back needs four games with a stat line to be rated, not five. Brayley Manning of Bishop Gorman, a sophomore with three interceptions and seven pass breakups in four games against St. John Bosco, Columbus, Lone Peak and Mater Dei, enters at No. 2. Everyone below him moved down one place; no ratings changed.
• Out-of-state games count the same way. Bishop Gorman's games against St. John Bosco, Columbus, Lone Peak and Mater Dei, Liberty's against Skyridge, Faith Lutheran's against Valor Christian and Desert Hills, and Arbor View's against Hamilton of Chandler are weighed for the opponent like any other game.
• Two rules to know. A Top 25 spot requires a real share of the load at the position; a player under that line is still rated and still listed, just not ranked. And return yardage counts fully in competitive games and is discounted in mismatches; turnovers and touchdowns always count.

Coaches, post your box scores. POP can only count what gets recorded. About six in ten Nevada games from Oct. 8 to 10 had a box score in when this week's numbers were run Tuesday evening. Arbor View has no box in our data for Oct. 2 or Oct. 9, so its starters stand on six games; Clark, Spring Creek and Churchill County carry none for Oct. 9; McQueen none for Sept. 25 or Oct. 2; Centennial, Bishop Manogue and Virgin Valley none for Oct. 2. When a program posts no box score, or logs only part of what its players did, those players lose credit for work they actually did. Post full box scores, offense and defense, every week. If a stat is wrong, tell us and show us; the corrected rating shows on the next board.

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Defensive Backs

Linebackers

Defensive Line

Two-Way (Athletes)

How to read the number

A POP rating runs 25 to 99 on one national scale, so a 95 in Nevada means the same thing as a 95 in Utah or Southern California. GP is games with a posted stat line. Two-Way players must be rated on an offensive board and a defensive board; the Two-Way number is built from both sides.

How every number on this board is built: the SPIN Production Rankings methodology. Why we built it: Stars Are a Bet. Yards Are a Receipt. This week's other boards: Utah, NorCal, SoCal and Arizona, all through Week 9.

Utah, Nevada, Northern California, Southern California and Arizona are live on the Player Rankings tab. A national board follows.