Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols lost an elite four-star in-state recruit to the Vanderbilt Commodores last fall.

But the Vols aren’t giving up in their efforts to flip him, and they have a legit chance to do it this summer.

2027 four-star linebacker Omarii Sanders, 6-foot-4/210 pounds from Nashville, TN, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 1 linebacker in the nation and the No. 2 player in the state of Tennessee. He’s also rated as the No. 48 overall player in the 2027 recruiting class.

Sanders committed to the Commodores last November, but he’s still talking with other schools, including Tennessee.

The four-star recruit, in fact, is taking an official visit to Tennessee on June 5 (he also has official visits scheduled to Vanderbilt, LSU, and Colorado).

“Tennessee has always been one of my top schools,” said Sanders to 247Sports. “I think I could learn a lot from their defensive coaches.”

247Sports’ Tom Loy says Vanderbilt knows it has a battle on its hands to keep Sanders committed.

“This is going to be quite the recruitment to track moving forward. Vanderbilt still feels good about their chances to keep him in the class, but they know they have a battle on their hands,” said Loy. “Tennessee has long been considered a threat, and it was widely known that the Vols weren’t going away anytime soon, regardless of whether or not he committed to another program early in his process, as he did with Vandy.”

We’ll have a better idea after the official visits where the Vols stand in this battle, but this is definitely a recruit that Tennessee would love to steal from Vanderbilt.