Tennessee starts preseason preparation for the 2025 football season Wednesday morning, but that isn’t stopping the Volunteers from adding to their 2026 recruiting class.
The Vols snagged a key in-state prospect Monday afternoon by receiving a nonbinding pledge from Joel Wyatt, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound athlete from Murfreesboro Oakland. Wyatt, who competed last season at Webb School in Bell Buckle, received a scholarship offer from Tennessee in May 2024 and selected the Vols over Vanderbilt.
Wyatt is expected to play defense for the Vols. He is the nation’s No. 48 overall prospect on the 247Sports.com composite rankings, giving Tennessee four of the top seven Volunteer State recruits on that barometer.
The Vols have commitments from Wyatt (No. 2), Knox Catholic receiver Tyreek King (No. 4), Baylor School offensive tackle Gabriel Osenda (No. 5) and edge rusher Zach Groves (No. 7) from East Robertson High in Cross Plains. The state’s top recruits who have committed elsewhere are Nashville Christian School quarterback Jared Curtis (No. 1), cornerback Caden Harris (No. 3) of Haywood High in Brownsville, and Murfreesboro Oakland safety Craig Tutt (No. 6).
Curtis and Harris are Georgia commitments, while Tutt is an Ole Miss pledge.
Tennessee now has 22 commitments, with the Vols listed 12th on the 247Sports team rankings. Georgia currently has the nation’s No. 1 class of commitments, with Southern California, Texas A&M, Alabama and Notre Dame rounding out the top five.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.