Tennessee football’s 2023 recruiting class spent much of the spring ranked in the nation’s top 10 before falling into the mid teens after a slow May and first half of June.
After adding just one commit between April 27 and June 24, the Vols have gained eight commits in the last two-and-a-half weeks and have skyrocketed in the class rankings.
Let’s recap the fruitful recruiting stretch for Josh Heupel and his staff.
June 24-26
Tennessee held one of its biggest recruiting weekends of the summer, hosting 13 official visitors in the 2023 class as well as a number of 2024 prospects.
The weekend proved to be a fruitful one. Two of the official visitors were already committed, two committed that weekend and three more have since committed.
Three-star Mississippi safety John Slaughter committed to Tennessee on Saturday the 25th and three-star Georgia linebacker Jeremiah Telander committed to the Vols on Sunday the 26th.
Slaughter ranks as the 717th best player and Telander ranks as the 784th best player in the 247sports composite rankings.
The pair of late June commitments boosted Tennessee’s recruiting class to No. 11 nationally on both 247sports and On3.
July 1-4
Even in a strong recruiting stretch, schools don’t land every player they’re targeting. The Vols got the first dose of that on July 1. Four-star running back Jeremiah Cobb officially visited Tennessee the weekend before, but committed to Auburn over the Vols and Clemson.
It wasn’t all bad for Tennessee on the first day of July as the Vols beat out South Carolina, Kentucky and Mississippi State for three-star defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby.
Two days later, Tennessee won a long recruiting battle with Kentucky. The Vols beat out the home state Wildcats for Cristian Conyer— the No. 1 player in the Bluegrass State.
The biggest recruiting loss of the last three weeks came on the Fourth of July when five-star offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa committed to Miami over Tennessee and others.
Tennessee did get good news in the 2024 recruiting class on July 4. The Vols landed their first commit in the cycle and it was a big one: five-star Jonathan Echols.
Weathersby ranks as the No. 505 player and Conyer ranks as the No. 559 player in the 247sports composite rankings. Tennessee exited the holiday just inside the top 10 in the 247sports rankings and just outside the top 10 in the On3 rankings.
July 7-11
Tennessee’s best stretch of the last three weeks came in the last few days when they landed four commitments.
Four-star receiver Cameron Seldon committed to Tennessee over Penn State on July 7 and the Vols’ outlasted a late push from Georgia to land four-star Peach State offensive tackle Sham Umarov a day later.
Seldon ranks as the No. 104 player and Umarov ranks as No. 349 player in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings.
The pair of commitments boosted Tennessee’s recruiting class to No. 6 nationally in the 247sports rankings.
Tennessee landed a pair of commitments on July 10 including the highest rated prospect in the stretch. The Vols beat out SEC foes South Carolina and Texas A&M for five-star edge rusher Chandavian Bradley.
Heupel and his staff concluded the day by landing three-star tackling machine Jalen Smith.
Bradley ranks as the No. 36 player and Smith ranks as the No. 439 player in the 247sports composite rankings.
After a fantastic Sunday for Tennessee recruiting, the Vols missed out on four-star Lucas Simmons Monday. The offensive tackle committed to Florida State over Florida, Southern Cal and Tennessee.
Overview
Tennessee landed eight players in a 16 day stretch including six of the top 12 commits in its 2023 recruiting class.
The Vols class now ranks fifth nationally in the 247sports team rankings and eighth nationally in the On3 team rankings.
