One of the Tennessee Vols’ top 2027 recruiting targets is five-star linebacker Cooper Witten, the son of former UT tight end Jason Witten.

Witten, 6-foot-2/210 lbs from Argyle, TX, is rated in 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 1 linebacker in the nation and the No. 12 overall player in the 2027 recruiting class.

The coveted recruit visited Tennessee this past weekend for the Vols’ overtime loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

“They’ve really shown me a lot of love and made me feel like I’m one of their top priorities with the time they’ve spent talking to me and getting to know me,” said Witten to On3 of his trip to Knoxville.

Cooper Witten is set to take a visit that has Tennessee Vols fans a little nervous

According to On3’s Hunter Shelton, Witten will take a visit to Clemson this weekend for the Tigers’ game against Syracuse.

“Dabo has built an amazing culture at Clemson and they are very first class in everything they do,” said Witten to On3 earlier this summer.

Tennessee’s had some bad luck over the last decade or so with Clemson swooping in and stealing recruits who are Vol legacies or grew up rooting for UT.

Wide receiver Tee Higgins, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Bengals, is from Knoxville, but he signed with Clemson out of high school. The same is true for Amari Rodgers, the son of Tennessee legend Tee Martin. Rodgers played for Clemson despite going to high school in Knoxville.

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence grew up rooting for the Vols (Peyton Manning is why he wears No. 16), but he also ended up playing college football at Clemson.

Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, who was teammates at Clemson with Lawrence, grew up cheering for Tennessee despite being from Louisiana.

The good news for the Vols is that Tennessee is viewed as the overwhelming favorite to land Witten.

“I think Tennessee’s in a good spot (for Cooper),” said VolQuest’s Austin Price in June. “But again, I don’t think you can just assume, because he’s Jason’s kid, that he’s definitely coming to Tennessee. But mom loves the Vols. Jason obviously played here. He loves the Vols. So ultimately, I think Cooper knows deep down where his mom and dad would love for him to go, but he’s got to come to that decision. Recruiting him as if his last name’s not Witten helps get to that point.

“Tennessee has done a really nice job to this point of recruiting him, and others are not going to go away….the only way I see him not coming here is if he just says, I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, I want to stay in the state of Texas. If he leaves the state, I’d be stunned if it’s not Tennessee. I think that’s the only way that it doesn’t end up being Tennessee, in the end, is if he chooses to stay home in the state of Texas.”

I think Tennessee will be able to hold off Clemson in this recruiting battle. Still, it’s understandable if Vols fans have some PTSD when it comes to Clemson targeting a UT legacy player.

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Zach Ragan