Making the College Football Playoff is already paying recruiting dividends for the Tennessee Vols
Regardless of what happens over the next month in the College Football Playoff, Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols have separated themselves from several big-time SEC programs. Before the season started, there was a group of SEC coaches — Heupel, Lane Kiffin, Shane Beamer, Eli Drinkwitz, Mike Elko, Hugh Freeze, and Brent Venables — who […]
Regardless of what happens over the next month in the College Football Playoff, Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols have separated themselves from several big-time SEC programs.
Before the season started, there was a group of SEC coaches — Heupel, Lane Kiffin, Shane Beamer, Eli Drinkwitz, Mike Elko, Hugh Freeze, and Brent Venables — who needed to make the 12-team playoff to reach the next tier of coaches in the conference.
Heupel is the only one of that group that came through this season. And as a result, the Vols will be competing for a national championship starting on December 21 in Columbus.
Even if the Vols don't advance past Ohio State in the first round — Tennessee can win that game, but it won't be easy — they're still going to benefit on the recruiting trail just because they made the playoff.
In fact, it's something that recruits are already talking about.
2026 three-star wide receiver Tyran Evans, 6-foot-3/170 lbs from Charlotte, NC, is set to visit Tennessee this weekend.
Evans told On3 that one of the reasons he's interested in Tennessee is because "they are competing for a Natty.”
The Charlotte native doesn't currently have an impressive recruiting ranking, but that could be changing in the near future with programs like Florida State, Florida, NC State, South Carolina, and Miami in the mix for his commitment.
We'll see where Evans lands — it's still a bit early in his recruitment. The important takeaway here is that more and more talented recruits are going to be interested in Tennessee because they see the Vols as a true championship contender while programs like Ole Miss, Texas A&M, South Carolina, and Missouri (and even LSU under Brian Kelly) are still trying to prove that they can get to the playoff.
Tennessee has results it can sell to recruits. A lot of other programs can't say the same.
Recruiting has been good lately for the Vols, but it should reach another level in the coming years thanks to Tennessee making the first 12-team playoff.
Former Tennessee Vols QB could land with Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes
That would be a big move
