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Sal LoCascio has been coaching Dylan Faison long enough to know to expect something crazy from Faison every game.
“There’s usually a, “what the heck was that,” play from him once a game,” LoCascio said. “He just does things that other players in the age group can’t do.”
Yet despite Faison’s elite-level athleticism, jaw-dropping moves and gamebreaking ability, he wasn’t satisfied with where he stood, both individually and as a team with the Team 91 Long Island Storm. A football commitment to Notre Dame didn’t do it, either. Faison has long been acknowledged as one of the class of 2026’s elite, but he had plenty of motivation coming into the summer to get even better. The initial NLF rankings slotted him as the No. 2 player in the class, and Team 91 hadn’t been able to get over the hump to win an NLF National Championship. Those slights fueled him and helped change his playing style, too.
“Dylan’s been recognized at an individual level for most of his sports-playing life,” LoCascio said. “But this summer, his priority was to win the NLF title. He laid that down early in the summer and then led his team to winning that national championship. You watch him play and you see all of the special things that he can do, but he elevated his teammates this summer and proved it at the NLF.”
Lightning in a Bottle
Oh, indeed. The Saint Andrew’s (Fla.) standout was electric in a quarterfinal win over an outstanding New Hampshire Tomahawks team, scoring five goals, including the game-tying goal and game-winning goal for the Storm. In the championship game, he helped Team 91 vanquish local rival and 2026 powerhouse Long Island Express for the team’s first NLF national title. Surprisingly, though, he only scored two goals in the Storm’s three championship game wins this summer. It wasn’t by design, per se, but it was a testament to Faison’s maturity that he trusted his teammates and didn’t expect himself to have to score every goal for Team 91 to succeed.
“Coach Sal and Coach (Dan) Paccione drilled it into me all summer that all eyes are in my direction, and we have great shooters around me,” Faison said. “They said, ‘it doesn’t have to be all you. If you get others involved, we will win,’ and I took it to heart. I think it showed with our success.”
It’s that development that helped Faison establish himself as the new No. 1 prospect in the class of 2026. He committed to the Irish as a wide receiver, but like his older brother, two-sport standout Jordan Faison (Pine Crest, Fla. / Team 91 LI), he’ll play both sports in college. A verbal commitment to the lacrosse team is imminent on Sunday once the lacrosse coaches can finally speak with him once Sept. 1 comes around. The younger Faison has torn apart Florida lacrosse in his first two years of high school, including a 97-goal, 45-assist campaign as a sophomore to earn U.S. Lacrosse All-America honors.
Notre Dame’s Getting a Good One
“He’s as athletic a player that’s come across our sport in years,” one Division I offensive coordinator said.
“His upside is crazy,” a head coach at a top-10 program said.
New No. 1 ranking in hand, to go with a title? There’d be plenty for Faison to gloat about, but he knows that the work has just started.
“It’s a great feeling, but it doesn’t motivate me to work harder. Nothing changes with how I work,” Faison said. ” I have the same goal to make it to the next level, and once you make it there, you go for a bigger goal. It’s all starting to pay off.”
The remainder of the new NLF class of 2026 rankings will be published later this week. Faison is the fourth Team 91 Long Island player to earn the top spot in the rankings, following Brennan O’Neill (St. Anthony’s, N.Y. / Duke / Denver Outlaws), Andrew McAdorey (St. Anthony’s, N.Y. / Duke) and Joey Spallina (Mount Sinai, N.Y. / Syracuse). He’s only the second Floridian to ever be named the top prospect on any site in the recruiting rankings era – and that’s a badge of honor for him.
“There are a bunch of great players in Florida, and I think that finally having a No. 1 rank is opening people’s eyes to the athleticism in Florida,” Faison said. “The game is starting to grow in Florida because a lot of teams are getting better.”
Two-Sport Impact Player
Faison credits a lot of his development to his time with Team 91, too. Jordan Faison was part of a stacked 2023 Bandits team at 91 after deciding that joining the NLF co-founding program would help elevate his game. His brother followed suit, and once Faison dropped down to 2026 and joined the Storm, his game took off.
“Joining 91 didn’t just help. My family says that 91 made us, and I wouldn’t be anything without them,” Faison said. “Every coach there has become more than just a coach to me. I look at Coach Sal as family. He really helped develop me into the man I am today. It’s more than lacrosse at 91. It’s a big family that happens to be really good at lacrosse.”
No. 1 individually. No. 1 as a team. Full scholarship to play football at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, where he’ll also suit up for the two-time defending national champions on the lacrosse field. It’s good to be Dylan Faison right now.
