Tennessee is continuing to pursue 2027 five-star EDGE DJ Jacobs.

Jacobs, 6-foot-5/240 lbs from Roswell, GA, has been committed to Ohio State since last December, but the Vols are pushing hard to flip him.

According to Rivals.com’s Chad Simmons, Miami and Georgia — two college football juggernauts — are also pushing hard to flip Jacobs.

“Miami, Tennessee and Georgia continue recruiting Jacobs, who has traveled to campuses alongside his younger brother, 2028 defensive lineman Dawson Jacobs,” noted Simmons this week. “Jacobs returns to Ohio State this weekend, and there has been discussion about another Tennessee trip for the LSU game. Miami is expected to make another late push, while Georgia continues working to stay involved.”

The Vols are going up against a few heavyweights in this battle, but Tennessee has two advantages over everyone in the Jacobs sweepstakes.

The big one is Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner’s close relationship with the Jacobs family. Garner coached Jacobs’ father at Georgia a quarter century ago, and the two have maintained a close relationship over the years.

Jacobs’ father, in fact, told Rivals.com this past summer that Garner is “like a father” to him.

The other thing working in Tennessee’s favor is that Jacobs signed a deal with Adidas in June.

Tennessee is now an Adidas school, and Adidas reportedly helped the Vols land David Gabriel Georges over Ohio State (the Buckeyes are a Nike school and Nike didn’t offer any help in the DGG battle).

Ohio State and Georgia are already with Nike, and Miami is set to move from Adidas to Nike in 2027. Adidas could help Tennessee push this to the finish line. Nike, meanwhile, likely won’t get involved.

The early signing period is just a month away, so this battle will certainly heat up over the next few weeks. We’ll see if the Vols can close the deal and flip the coveted five-star pass rusher.