The Tennessee Vols are battling an old friend for one of the top 2027 quarterback recruits in the nation.

Tennessee is one of several programs in the mix for 2027 four-star quarterback Israel Abrams.

Arbams, 6-foot-4/187 pounds from Arlington Heights, IL, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 2 quarterback in the nation and the No. 1 player in the state of Illinois.

Former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh and the Auburn Tigers are also in the mix for Israel Abrams

According to On3’s Steve Wiltfong, Abrams was supposed to visit Tennessee this weekend, but he’ll visit Auburn instead.

Auburn recently hired former Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh to replace Hugh Freeze as the Tigers’ head coach.

Abrams has already visited Tennessee multiple times, but this will be his first visit to Auburn.

Despite canceling his visit to Tennessee to check out Auburn, the Vols are still in a good spot for Abrams.

“With Matt Campbell leaving Iowa State for Penn State, his familiarity with a school and relationship with a coaching staff now favors Tennessee at this point in the process,” wrote Wiltfong of Abrams.

Purdue, Indiana, and Northwestern are also in the mix for Abrams.

For now, it’s unclear how hard Tennessee is pushing for Abrams with 2026 five-star Vols signee Faizon Brandon on the way to Knoxville, plus the program is targeting 2028 quarterback Graham Simpson (the younger brother of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson).

We’ll see what happens with Abrams, but this probably won’t be the last time that Golesh and the Vols are involved for the same offensive recruit. With Golesh running a similar offense as Heupel, there will likely be quite a bit of recruiting overlap between the two programs moving forward.

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