Tennessee Vols are among the early favorites to steal an elite recruit from Alabama's backyard
The Tennessee Vols are one of the "early favorites" to steal an elite 2025 recruit from Alabama's backyard. 247Sports' Grant Hughes noted this past weekend that Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and USC are the early favorites for 2025 four-star edge rusher Jared Smith. From 247Sports: It's shaping up to be a dogfight for Smith, an elite […]
The Tennessee Vols are one of the "early favorites" to steal an elite 2025 recruit from Alabama's backyard.
247Sports' Grant Hughes noted this past weekend that Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and USC are the early favorites for 2025 four-star edge rusher Jared Smith.
From 247Sports: It's shaping up to be a dogfight for Smith, an elite EDGE prospect with a stacked offer list. Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and USC are the early favorites. He visited Los Angeles in February and has trips scheduled to Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee this summer before making a return trip to USC on June 21. He's also expected to visit Ole Miss and Florida State. Smith's recruitment will likely stretch into his senior season.
Smith, 6-foot-6/235 lbs from Alabaster, AL, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 2 edge rusher in the nation and the No. 2 player in the state of Alabama. He's also rated as the No. 18 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.
The expectation is that Smith will eventually be a five-star recruit.
Tennessee is quickly becoming a premier destination for top edge rushers.
The Vols landed edge rusher James Pearce during the 2022 recruiting cycle and he's now one of the top defensive players in college football.
Tennessee followed up landing Pearce by signing five-star edge rusher Jordan Ross during the 2024 recruiting cycle.
Ross, like Smith, is from Alabama.
The Vols are starting to become a thorn in the side of Alabama and Georgia when it comes to recruiting. Tennessee is still playing catch-up to those programs, but seeing the Vols steal elite recruits from those states (like Ross from Alabama and 2024 five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews who is from Georgia) is becoming more common under Josh Heupel.
There will still be some big misses for the Vols when it comes to recruiting, but the gap is absolutely closing with Heupel at the helm.
