Tennessee Vols’ Josh Heupel suffers a setback to North Carolina’s Bill Belichick off the field on Thursday
Tennessee’s hot recruiting run hit a small snag.
The Tennessee Volunteers have been on an absolute heater lately in the recruiting world. In a span of about a week, Josh Heupel secured a mega-flip by getting 2026 five-star WR and top-10 overall player Tristen Keys to join Tennessee’s class. He also flipped 2026 four-star top-100 edge rusher Hezekiah Harris from Auburn.
However, recruiting is a game of ebbs and flows, and one went against him on Thursday and in favor of North Carolina’s Bill Belichick.
2026 four-star OT JB Shabazz flips commitment from Tennessee to North Carolina
JB Shabazz (Winston-Salem, NC; East Forsyth) picked the Vols over Ohio State and South Carolina back in July. Now, the four-star and No. 28 offensive tackle in the country has his sights set on Chapel Hill. Shabazz attended the Tar Heels’ season-opening 48-14 debacle of a loss to TCU.
As such, I’m not entirely sure what he’s seeing there, aside from it being in state. The Belichick era really started off with a resounding thud, and while some say it’s the first game, personally, I have my doubts that he will succeed at the college level.
Still, Tennessee is in terrific shape in its 2026 class. The Vols have two four-star offensive tackles committed in the class in Gabriel Osenda (Clearwater, FL) and Kamari Blair (Clarksville, TN). So they still have quality options coming to Knoxville next year. They had risen to No. 8 in the On3/Rivals team rankings before this decommitment, so the class is still a strong one.
And there’s plenty of time left for Heupel to continue to build it even better.
Tennessee Volunteers News
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