The Tennessee Vols have enjoyed plenty of recruiting success under Josh Heupel over the last several years, significantly increasing the talent on the roster thanks to some big wins on the recruiting trail. 

But if the Vols are eventually going to overtake the Georgia Bulldogs as the team to beat in the SEC, they'll need to take their recruiting efforts to the next level. 

And they can start by making a huge statement during the 2025 recruiting cycle. 

Tennessee is right in the thick of some big-time recruiting battles that are still playing out. Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr, the No. 2 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class, is an elite player that's strongly considering the Volunteers. Landing Sanders is obviously a must for Tennessee if they want to be a favorite to win a national championship in the coming seasons. 

It's not just Sanders, though, that Tennessee needs to land. The Vols have to win their fair share of other big-time recruiting battles against top programs. To be fair, Tennessee has started to win some of those battles (like beating out Alabama for Arion Carter and Jordan Ross or beating out Georgia for Mike Matthews), but winning those battles has to become the norm on Rocky Top. 

One recruiting battle that Tennessee could win that would send a huge message to rest of college football is the battle for 2025 five-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench. 

Ffrench, 6-foot-1/185 lbs from Jacksonville, FL, is rated as the No. 4 wide receiver in the nation and the No. 18 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class. 

The Vols have been a consistent player in Ffrench's recruitment since offering the talented wide receiver in late 2022. But it's been programs like LSU, Ohio State, and Texas that have been routinely mentioned as the most likely landing spots for Ffrench. 

Tennessee will get an opportunity to make a big move in Ffrench's recruitment next weekend when he takes his official visit to Knoxville ahead of his planned commitment day on August 30. 

Ffrench said last week that he doesn't currently have a "leader" in his recruitment. Miami, LSU, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Texas are all equal as this recruiting battle comes down the stretch. 

“I don’t have a leader,” said Ffrench to On3. “LSU changed it, they made it competitive. But those one-two-three schools, everybody is in right now. It’s very back open right now.”

If Tennessee can come in at the end of this recruiting battle and secure a commitment from Ffrench, it would cause programs around the sport to start paying a lot more attention to the Vols. Landing Ffrench would send a statement that Tennessee is building a recruiting monster in Knoxville — especially after the Vols were written off by most recruiting analysts in the battle for Ffrench. 

Winning the battle for Ffrench isn't necessarily a must for Tennessee, but it could serve as a springboard for the Vols to take off in recruiting in a way that fans haven't seen since Phillip Fulmer was roaming the sidelines at Neyland Stadium. 

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