The Tennessee Volunteers job on the recruiting trail is providing a bright beacon of hope in Knoxville.
You’d have a hard time finding a team that’s hotter on the recruiting trail than the Tennessee Volunteers. They have reeled in a litany of high-caliber recruits over the last several weeks in multiple classes. Head coach Josh Heupel has put the program in a rising position, and their job on the recruiting trail further validates that.
Over the last three weeks, Tennessee has picked up commitments from: Safety Lagonza Heyward, tight end Da’Saahn Brame, defensive lineman Mariyon Dye, linebacker Christian Gass, defensive lineman Darrion Smith, quarterback Faizon Brandon and tight end Carson Sneed. It’s not just names the Volunteers have landed though, it’s the schools they have battled against to get these players.
Brame was at one point committed to Oregon and then flipped to the Volunteers and Hayward, Gass and Smith were all prospects that Georgia was heavily involved in. Oregon and Georgia are both considered to be national powerhouses not just on the football field on Saturdays but on the recruiting trail as well. Getting wins against those two programs is worth commending.
Arguably the biggest headliner of the entire group doesn’t even come from the 2025 recruiting class., but next year’s cycle. Faizon Brandon is rated as the number one player in the country next year and bolsters an already loaded future Tennessee quarterback room. Nico Iamaleava is already there, Jake Merklinger is already there, George McIntyre comes in this class and then Brandon follows that up. For a program that really emphasizes the offensive side of the football, it doesn’t get much better than that at quarterback, and elite quarterback play is a requirement to win national titles these days.