Tennessee’s coaching staff isn’t planning on standing still during the Vols’ first open date of the season this weekend.
According to head coach Josh Heupel, the Vols’ staff is set to hit the road before the Friday night slate of high school games.
“So a big week for us to continue to get better,” Heupel said during his bye-week presser on Wednesday. “You’ve heard me say good teams continue to get better throughout the course of the year. And on the back end of the week, a lot of our staff will be on the road recruiting.”
Hurricane Helene has presented a wrinkle after making landfall late in the week, though. There’s no telling what alterations Tennessee made to their recruiting visits because of high school games getting canceled. According to WVLT on Thursday, all Knox County football games on Friday, Sept. 27, have been canceled or suspended. Most Knoxville games have been rescheduled to Saturday.
With time winding down on the recruiting trail for the current class, Tennessee’s class currently boasts a near-consensus Top 10 status for the 2025 recruiting cycle. Heupel’s class is ranked No. 7 on 247 Sports, No. 8 on On3 Sports, and No. 11 on Rivals.
Tennessee has one five-star commit, 13 four-star commits, and nine three-star commits for a total of 23 commitments. While the Vols did just lose a highly-touted offensive line commit to Oregon this past week, Tennessee’s class still boasts several blue-chip prospects looking to make an impact on Rocky Top down the road.
The biggest gem of Tennessee’s 2025 recruiting class is David Sanders Jr., a 6-foot-6, 290-pound prospect from Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C. Sanders is ranked as the No. 2 overall player in the class and the No. 1 offensive tackle in the rankings.
Providence Day has seen great early success with a 5-1 record this season and are sitting atop the NCISAA Big South standings with a 1-0 conference record. The Chargers are beating their opponents by more than 42 points on average in their five wins.
Up until Sanders’ commitment in mid-August, four-star quarterback George MacIntyre had been at the top of Tennesse’s commitment list. The 6-foot-5.5 quarterback from Brentwood Academy in Nashville has been committed to Tennessee since January and gives the Vols another highly-touted quarterback to mold in the future.
Tennessee tight end commit Da’Saahn Brame has been terrific for Derby High School through three games this season scoring the ball in a variety of ways. During Derby’s game against South on Sept. 6, Brame hauled in an impressive six-yard touchdown in the Panthers’ season opener.
Da’Saahn Brame with his second touchdown of the night and give a little one-handed catch. It’s a six-yard score. The PAT was missed. Derby leads 13-0 with 3:31 left in the first quarter pic.twitter.com/lS6jSd9RG6
— Derby Informer Sports (@Derby_Sports) September 7, 2024
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more information on Saturday about Tennessee’s recruiting adventures this weekend during the Vols’ open date.
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Tennessee Football Commits (9/27/24)
- Five-star OT David Sanders Jr.
- Four-star QB George MacIntyre
- Four-star S Lagonza Hayward
- Four-star TE Da’Saahn Brame
- Four-star DL Mariyon Dye
- Four-star DL Ethan Utley
- Four-star WR Travis Smith Jr.
- Four-star EDGE Jayden Loftin
- Four-star IOL Nic Moore
- Four-star LB Jaedon Harmon
- Four-star TE Jack Van Dorselaer
- Four-star WR Radarious Jackson
- Three-star LB Christian Gass
- Three-star WR Joakim Dodson
- Three-star CB Onis Konanbanny
- Three-star S Sidney Walton
- Three-star CB Tre Poteat
- Three-star CB Tyler Redmond
- Three-star OT Antoni Kade Ogumoro
- Three-star RB Justin Baker
- Three-star CB Dylan Lewis
- Three-star DL Darrion Smith
- Three-star DL Charles House
All star-ratings courtesy 247 Sports rankings
