New Jersey defensive end CJ Edwards committed to Tennessee football on Tuesday afternoon, On3’s Hayes Fawcett first reported.
BREAKING: Class of 2026 EDGE CJ Edwards has Committed to Tennessee, he tells me for @on3recruits
The 6’5 218 EDGE from Metuchen, NJ chose the Vols over Michigan, Boston College, & Duke
“Vol nation I’m home GBO
”https://t.co/X5tLjPdlJr pic.twitter.com/JL0H7G65iu
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) February 25, 2025
Edwards hadn’t released a list of top schools but did hold offers from Michigan, Boston College, Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, West Virginia and others.
Edwards is unranked according to the 247sports composite rankings but the On3 consensus rankings list the edge rusher as a three-star recruit and the nation’s No. 807 player. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound prospect also ranks as the No. 78 edge rusher and the No. 16 player in the state of New Jersey in the 2026 recruiting cycle.
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The three-star recruit had locked in a summer official visit with Tennessee football but he had yet to take a trip to Knoxville before committing to Josh Heupel and his staff. Edwards had taken a pair of visits to Michigan during his recruitment, taking a trip to Ann Arbor the Wolverines loss against Texas and again earlier this month for a junior day.
Edwards is Tennessee’s eighth commit in the 2026 recruiting cycle and is the second defensive lineman. Alabama three-star defensive lineman Tyson Bacon committed to the Vols back in October. But Bacon is an interior defensive lineman while Edwards is an edge rusher.
Tennessee football’s eight-commit 2026 recruiting class currently ranks No. 7 nationally and No. 2 in the SEC according to the 247sports team rankings. Every team ranked ahead of Tennessee in the 247sports team rankings has more commits than the Vols’ currently do.
