Tennessee football signed eight-total instate prospects and six instate scholarship prospects as part of its 2024 signing class on Wednesday.
It was a strong haul for Tennessee in its own state, but as the Vols begin turning their attention to the 2025 recruiting class, the emphasis on instate recruiting is only going to rev up.
“State of Tennessee is going to be huge for us in this upcoming cycle,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said on Thursday. “It always is, but next year’s a great year inside of this (state). You can already see that with some of the guys that we’ve evaluated. We got a great reception from the high school coaches across the state in the short amount of time that we’ve been here three years. Developed really good relationships, rapport. … But, it’s a great year inside this state.”
Recruiting the Volunteer State in the 2025 recruiting cycle starts with five-star quarterback George MacIntyre. Heupel and his staff have long targeted the five-star quarterback and are battling Alabama for the Brentwood Academy standout’s services.
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Football’s 2024 Recruiting Class Ranks
MacIntyre is the top-prospect in the 2025 cycle and is followed closely by Baylor School athlete and longtime Tennessee target Cameron Sparks.
It’s a strong and deep class in the state of Tennessee including three top-50 recruits, nine top-300 recruits and 11 blue-chip recruits.
Tennessee landed two of the top five and four of the top 10 recruits in the Volunteer State during the 2024 recruiting cycle including TSSAA Division I-6A Mr. Football Boo Carter and Nashville cornerback Kaleb Beasley.
“We spend a lot of time and energy, communication with the high school coaches, guys that have their boots on the ground here,” Heupel said of instate recruiting. “We’re going to recruit them the right way. It doesn’t mean we’ll get every single one of them. It doesn’t mean we’re going to offer every single one. But we want to make sure that we’re very thorough in the evaluation process and, based on where we’re at and who they are and what their makeup is, is the right fit.”
The Vols currently boast four commits int he 2025 recruiting class. All four prospects rank as three-star recruits and are from the Atlanta suburbs.
