The Tennessee Vols haven’t had much luck over the last 10 to 15 years when going up against the Ohio State Buckeyes in a recruiting battle.

Outside of landing five-star offensive lineman David Sanders in the 2025 cycle, the Vols have mostly come up just short in battles against the Buckeyes (missing out on Carnell Tate in the 2023 cycle still stings for UT).

Tennessee, however, is hoping to flip the script in a big way this summer by hitting the Buckeyes with a “double whammy”.

The Vols could land two five-star recruits over the Buckeyes

Everyone knows about the battle between Tennessee and Ohio State for 2027 five-star running back David Gabriel Georges.

The coveted running back is coming off official visits to both programs, and it’s a tight race. Tennessee, though, appears to be surging for Gabriel Georges based on the comments his uncle made to On3’s Steve Wiltfong this week.

Gabriel Georges, however, is still going to take official visits to Ole Miss and Georgia before entering decision mode ahead of his planned commitment on July 22. Tennessee’s in a good spot, but no decision has been made yet. Still, the Vols have a real chance to land the five-star running back over Ohio State (Tennessee has reportedly made a very strong NIL offer to Gabriel Georges).

Tennessee is also trying to swipe five-star EDGE DJ Jacobs from Ohio State.

Jacobs, 6-foot-5/235 pounds from Roswell, GA, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 1 overall player in the 2027 recruiting class. He’s been committed to Ohio State since last December (Jacobs visited Tennessee last fall for the Vols’ matchup against Oklahoma).

“[Tennessee] would love to land DJ Jacobs and flip him from Ohio State,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price this week on 104.5 The Zone.

Jacobs has a very strong relationship with Vols defensive line coach Rodney Garner (Jacobs’ dad, David Jacobs, was coached by Garner at Georgia in the late 90s/early 2000s), which is a big reason why Tennessee has a chance.

Nothing is imminent with Jacobs — he’s still solidly committed to Ohio State for now — but folks in Columbus know it’s going to be a fight to keep him.

“Ever since he committed back in December, there have been questions about if Jacobs will stick,” noted Letterman Row’s Alex Gleitman this week. “All signs have pointed to yes but that won’t stop others from coming after him. This trip will allow Ohio State to make DJ continue to feel comfortable in Columbus. They’ll still have to hold on until he enrolls.”

Tennessee needs to get Jacobs to campus again to have a real shot at flipping him. If they can get him to Knoxville, this could get real very fast for the Vols.