The Top 10 Teams to Watch in UIL Realignment
The DeSoto Eagles, Carthage Bulldogs, Gunter Tigers, and Muenster Hornets headline the top 10 teams to watch in 2026-28 UIL Realignment.
DeSoto has won three Class 6A DII State Championships in the last four years. The Eagles turned in a 5A DI enrollment number two years ago and opted up to 6A. DeSoto turned in another 5A DI enrollment number for the 2026-28 UIL Realignment, and it remains to be seen whether they opt up again.
If DeSoto instead opts for 5A DI, they will likely retain former district foes Cedar Hill, Lancaster, and Mesquite.
There will be 12 Class 6A teams in the Rio Grande Valley, which gives the UIL the option of either creating two six-team districts or moving the four Laredo United ISD schools (Laredo Alexander, Laredo LBJ, Laredo United, and Laredo United South) to the RGV for two eight-team districts.
If the UIL opts to make two six-team districts in the RGV, the four Laredo schools would go north to San Antonio. But, as Stepp pointed out in his Class 6A realignment storylines, a move north to San Antonio would jumble up Region IV. The mocked Districts 28 and 29 each have eight San Antonio teams, while the mocked District 30 has six San Antonio teams, Del Rio, and Eagle Pass. According to Stepp, the most likely landing spot would be District 27 with San Antonio Pieper, Cibolo Steele, New Braunfels Canyon, and Schertz Clemens. That would push the Austin-area schools such as Buda Johnson, Buda Hays Consolidated, Del Valle, and San Marcos into Region II.
In Class 5A DII, Carroll was with four other Corpus Christi schools and Gregory-Portland (23-minute drive away). Now, Carroll will be just the third Corpus Christi school in Class 5A DI.
Flour Bluff and Veterans Memorial were part of a nine-team Rio Grande Valley district. PSJA North is moving up to 6A, and Donna is moving to 5A DII, but Brownsville Hanna (down from 6A) is a lock to join the RGV district. That means there is an open spot to slide Carroll in. The UIL, however, could opt to send all three Corpus Christi teams, along with Victoria East, to a San Antonio District.
There are now so many DFW teams in Class 5A DII that three fringe DFW schools (Ennis, Corsicana, and Mesquite Poteet) will now likely suck schools like Waco University, Waco, Killeen Ellison, and Belton into the DFW orbit and leave Brenham and Bryan Rudder as the ultimate wildcards of this year’s realignment.
Stepp’s latest realignment projects Brenham and Bryan Rudder to join the north Houston schools out in New Caney and Humble. But Stepp acknowledges that grouping could expose teams in the Golden Triangle (Port Neches-Groves and Baytown) to intense travel. Brenham and Bryan Rudder could stick with the CenTex schools and boot out two DFW fringe schools in the process. Or, they could realistically group with the Austin ISD and Liberty Hill schools.
The only thing we know about these two is that districts from around the state will be keyed in on them.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: There’s a handful of teams out west who will either have to be in a four-team district or travel three to four hours for district games.
This realignment’s group is Plainview, San Angelo Lake View, Andrews, and Midland Greenwood. But there’s a reason I’m specifically highlighting Plainview. If the UIL puts Plainview with the Panhandle teams, San Angelo Lake View will most likely travel 2.5 hours east to play teams such as Stephenville and Alvarado. But that’s a short drive compared to what Midland Greenwood and Andrews would have to do, traveling over 4.5 hours to El Paso for district games.
Plainview is the domino that’ll determine whether we get a four-team district, or some of the most insane travel times in Texas.
With so many 4A DII schools in the northern DFW area, Stepp projected Carthage to move from Region II to Region III in his latest mock realignment. Rest assured, both regions will be waiting with bated breath to see where the 11-time state champions land.
If Carthage goes to Region III, likely Regional Final opponents would include Waco La Vega, Silsbee, West Orange-Stark, Bellville, and other dark-horse candidates such as Hamshire-Fannett, Athens, Hitchcock, and Robinson.
This realignment window occurs at an intriguing time for Carthage, which is losing arguably the most star-studded senior class the program has ever seen.
Robstown was in a five-team Coastal Bend District 15-4A DII. But with Sinton dropping down to Class 3A, the other four teams are ripe for a move. Robstown is the most obvious candidate to move south to the Rio Grande Valley and away from the Coastal Bend. Kingsville King, just half an hour south of them, already made that move last realignment.
Robstown will be a domino that determines whether Cuero and Gonzales go toward the Coastal Bend or toward a more central location.
Gunter has played in seven state championships over the last 10 seasons, and now they are making the jump to Class 3A DI just one year after legendary head coach Jake Fieszel left the program.
The Tigers could realistically end up in Region I or Region II, but Stepp’s latest mock realignment predicts they’ll go into a Region II district with Pottsboro, Mount Vernon, Emory Rains, Commerce, and Winnsboro. Pottsboro went to the regional final in 3A DI, while Commerce and Winnsboro reached the second round. That’s a daunting draw for the perennial power.
Muenster has won back-to-back Class 2A DII State Championships. Now, the Hornets move up to DI at a critical inflection point for the program. Star quarterback Casen Carney hangs up the cleats after accounting for 64 percent of the offense's production over the last two years.
Stepp’s latest mock realignment has Muenster in a district with 9-3 Alvord and 9-3 Tom Bean.
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