Alex Golesh’s loss could be Tennessee’s gain with one of Alabama’s top 2027 players

A notable four-star recruit has Tennessee in his final five.

Craig Smith College Football & NFL Trending News Writer
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Tennessee made the cut for one of the top players in the state of Alabama in the 2027 recruiting class. And, in a way, they have Auburn head coach Alex Golesh to thank for that.

Golesh accepted the vacant Auburn job back on November 30 after Hugh Freeze was let go by the school. Just two days later, one of the Tigers’ top recruits, four-star safety Jaylen Scott, announced he was de-committing from Auburn in order to process the change and consider his options.

Now, almost two months later, Scott told Rivals’ Chad Simmons that he’s down to five schools, and Auburn is not among them. Instead, the Tennessee Vols find themselves among the schools still in contention on Scott’s reduced list, which also includes Oklahoma, Georgia, Miami, and Florida State.

Tennessee is among final five teams for Mobile, Alabama four-star safety Jaylen Scott

Scott is one of the top players in the state of Alabama for the 2027 cycle. Per Rivals, he checks in as the No. 151 overall player, No. 15 safety, and No. 5 player in the state. He holds offers from a slew of Power Four programs, including — in addition to the remaining teams in contention besides Tennessee — Missouri, Nebraska, Michigan, Colorado, Kentucky, Arkansas, UNC, and Vanderbilt, among others.

According to Scott, the Vols are at the top of the list as far as schools who were recruiting him the hardest.

“Tennessee is another school that recruits me as hard as they can,” Scott said to Chad Simmons of Rivals. Scott also said he’s a fan of new Tennessee secondary coach Anthony Poindexter, in addition to the staff and fans standing out to him.

We’ll see if Josh Heupel and his staff can get Scott on campus this spring and continue the positive momentum they have with the talented defensive back.