Tennessee Football has been strong in recruiting inside its borders with the 2026 recruiting class. Josh Heupel and his staff have landed nine players from the state of Tennessee so far, grabbing a commitment from six of the state’s top 10 players listed in Rivals’ Industry Rankings.
Some of the Vols’ top in-state commits include four-star DB Zay Anderson, four-star OT Kamari Blair, four-star EDGE Zach Groves, four-star OT Gabriel Osenda, four-star WR Tyreek King, and four-star ATH Joel Wyatt.
Tennessee is looking to keep that in-state success rolling into the 2027 class as well.
According to a report from Rivals’ Chad Simmons, Tennessee will host class of 2027 wide receiver Kesean Bowman for a visit on Rocky Top this weekend for the Vols’ SEC clash with Georgia. Bowman is ranked as a consensus four-star prospect and currently plays for Brentwood Academy in Nashville, TN. He played alongside Tennessee true freshman quarterback George MacIntyre last season.
Rivals’ Industry Rankings have the 6-foot-1 receiver as the No. 51 player in the nation, the No. 10 wide receiver in the ’27 class, and the second-ranked prospect from the state of Tennessee.
Josh Heupel and his staff will have to flip Bowman’s current commitment, though. He committed to Dan Lanning’s Oregon program in late July, but appears to be keeping his options open with reported visits to Tennessee and Texas in the near future. Bowman told Simmons that Tennessee’s coaches have consistently remained in contact with him since his commitment to Oregon, which tracks with UT’s history of relationship-building with players. Tennessee recently flipped three SEC commits in the ’26 cycle, after all.
Bowman is a player that Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel recently saw with his own eyes. On the Friday before the Vols’ home opener against ETSU last weekend, Heupel was seen at the Brentwood Academy-Baylor School game in the mid-state.
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The trip over to Nashville also allowed Heupel to see another stand-out in-state 2027 prospect with Baylor School running back David Gabriel Georges. The six-foot running back currently lands as a four-star prospect, the No. 3 running back in the 2027 class, and the top-ranked player from the state of Tennessee, according to Rivals’ Industry Rankings.
David Gabriel Georges is currently uncommitted in the early stages of the 2027 recruiting cycle.
Could Tennessee’s game against Georgia be enough to sway Bowman to stay in his home state? It’s a huge weekend for Tennessee both on and off the field, so we’ll have to wait to see how things shake out.
Here’s a look at some of the recent highlights from Kesean Bowman, an Oregon commit and a Tennessee target in the 2027 recruiting cycle:
