Former Tennessee receiver Dayton Sneed committed to Bill Belichick and North Carolina football on Tuesday a week and a half after he announced plans to enter the transfer portal.
Sneed was a walk-on receiver at Tennessee, combining to catch two passes for nine yards while playing in seven games during his two years in Knoxville. It is unclear whether Sneed will be on scholarship at North Carolina or whether he’ll continue to be a walk-on.
While Sneed didn’t have a significant role in his two seasons at Tennessee, he was one of the Vols’ better walk-ons last season and had a strong performance in the 2024 Orange & White game. It’s still unlikely that Sneed would have had a real role for Tennessee next season but the Vols’ lack of receiver depth made it a possibility.
Dayton Sneed’s commitment to North Carolina could have a real impact on Tennessee football’s 2026 recruiting class. Dayton’s younger brother, Carson, is one eight commits in the Vols’ 2026 class at the moment.
More From RTI: Tennessee Football To Pay Joey Aguilar Much Less Than They Were Paying Nico Iamaleava
The younger Sneed ranks as a four-star recruit and the No. 258 player in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings. A Nashville native, Sneed ranks as the No. 13 tight end in the country and the No. 7 player in the state of Tennessee.
Sneed was one of Tennessee’s first commits in the 2026 cycle, committing to Josh Heupel and his staff back in August. But despite that, Sneed is still planning on taking an abundance of visits to other schools in the upcoming months.
That first trip is coming up this weekend when Carson Sneed visits North Carolina. With his older brother now on the Tar Heels’ roster, North Carolina is all of a sudden in a strong spot to flip the four-star Tennessee commit.
Sneed also has visits scheduled to Ole Miss in May as well as Miami, Colorado and Tennessee and June. The blue-chip tight end’s scheduled official visit to Tennessee is currently the last one he has scheduled.
