Manhattan High star senior JJ Dunnigan, one of the top football prospects in the state and a long-time Kansas football commit, announced Monday evening that he has decommitted from the University of Kansas.<\/p>\n
Dunnigan shared the news on social media, posting a written statement thanking the Jayhawks\u2019 staff for their role in his recruitment while explaining that his decision came after considerable thought.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter much prayer and thoughtful conversations with my family, I\u2019ve decided to decommit from the University of Kansas,\u201d Dunnigan wrote. \u201cI\u2019m truly grateful for everything the coaches and staff have done for me and for the way they\u2019ve treated me throughout this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was not an easy decision, but I believe it\u2019s the best one for me and my future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety and wide receiver originally committed to KU on Jan. 2, choosing the Jayhawks over a host of offers that included Kansas State, Nebraska, Stanford, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Since that commitment, Dunnigan\u2019s stock has continued to rise nationally. He has added scholarship offers from Colorado, Miami, Georgia Tech and Florida, and according to Rivals, has already scheduled official visits to Colorado and Miami.<\/p>\n
Rated as the No. 2 player in Kansas for the Class of 2026 and a four-star recruit, Dunnigan has drawn widespread attention for his athleticism and versatility. He has been a key two-way contributor for Manhattan since breaking into the varsity lineup, excelling in all three phases.<\/p>\n
Last season, Dunnigan was named the Centennial League Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team honors at defensive back, wide receiver and returner. He was also a first-team defensive back and second-team receiver on The Mercury\u2019s All-Flint Hills roster.<\/p>\n
Despite battling injuries this fall, Dunnigan has remained one of the Indians\u2019 most impactful players. He has appeared in four of Manhattan\u2019s eight games, totaling nine receptions for 226 yards and five touchdowns \u2014 an average of 25.1 yards per catch. On special teams, he\u2019s returned four punts for 121 yards (30.3 average), including a touchdown, giving him 422 all-purpose yards. Defensively, he\u2019s added 28 tackles and a sack, anchoring the secondary when healthy.<\/p>\n
Dunnigan returned to the lineup earlier this month and made an immediate difference in Manhattan\u2019s surge to end the regular season, including a 43-0 road win at Washburn Rural last Friday.<\/p>\n
With the decommitment, Dunnigan now reopens his recruitment as one of the most sought-after prospects in the Midwest. His blend of speed, length and two-way production has made him a priority target for several Power Four programs as the 2026 cycle continues to heat up.<\/p>\n
For now, his attention returns to Manhattan\u2019s postseason run, where the Indians will open the Class 6A playoffs this week riding a two-game shutout streak and renewed momentum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan High star senior JJ Dunnigan, one of the top football prospects in the state and a long-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8918,11582,11590,11581,11583,13301,75,84,83,13302,13303,11587,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-19416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-american-football","tag-champion-seasons-in-american-football","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-gridiron-football","tag-kansas-jayhawks-football","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-seasons","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}