Tennessee Vols pushing to flip five star recruit that could completely unlock the offense for Josh Heupel and future QBs
After losing Nico Iamaleava to UCLA, Donte' Thornton to the NFL Draft, Bru McCoy to medical retirement, and Squirrel White to Florida State the Tennessee Vols offense has some major question marks heading into the 2025 college football season.Josh Heupel clearly understands that he may need to inject some fresh playmakers into his offense here […]
After losing Nico Iamaleava to UCLA, Donte' Thornton to the NFL Draft, Bru McCoy to medical retirement, and Squirrel White to Florida State the Tennessee Vols offense has some major question marks heading into the 2025 college football season.
Josh Heupel clearly understands that he may need to inject some fresh playmakers into his offense here soon if the Vols are going to properly execute his system. How can fans be sure Heupel is indeed aware of this? He and his staff are pushing hard to flip one of the most important wide receiver recruits in the country away from LSU as they're set to host him this weekend.
Tristen Keys, Five Star WR Recruit could flip from the LSU Tigers
For those who may be unfamiliar, Tristen Keys is the highest rated wide receiver recruit in the nation for the 2026 recruiting class and he's been committed to LSU since March. However, since in recent weeks Keys' commitment to the Tigers seems to be wavering as he's been making a flurry of official visits all around the country.
Keys has just recently visited with Miami, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M already. Now he's set to visit with the Tennessee Vols this weekend. If the Vols can persuade him with early snaps and opportunity with a health NIL package too (potentially between $500K and $1 million, like he apparently wants), they might just be able to pull off the flip away from the LSU Tigers.
Landing a difference maker like Tristen Keys would be an unbelievably huge boost to the Tennessee Vols' offensive future. Yes, the team still returns the electric young Mike Matthews, veteran transfer Chris Brazzell, and a bevy of younger talents at receiver, but they're going to need much more than that if the Vols want to take another shot at a deep College Football Playoff run.
Joey Aguilar should help the offense hold together this year thanks to his experience and leadership once he fully gets up to speed for this fall, but he'll be gone after this season. Having another premier five star weapon like Tristen Keys to go along with Mike Matthews could prove critical for George MacIntyre or Jake Merklinger in 2026 and beyond. Vols fans just better hope coach Heupel can close the deal here over the weekend.
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If you want to see why Tristen Keys could be a complete game-changer who unlocks the offense for Josh Heupel and future quarterbacks at Tennessee just watch some of his best plays from last season in the video below.
