Tennessee football signed one of the best recruiting classes in the country for the 2026 cycle on Wednesday. Included in the group is highly-ranked four-star slot receiver Tyreek King from right down the street. He stars at Knoxville Catholic, just a short drive from Neyland Stadium.
While King has the top-end speed and playmaking ability that any coach would want in their offense, he’ll mean more than just his skillset to the program, according to Vols head coach Josh Heupel. King’s proximity to the university, growing up and being raised in a community that lives and breathes Tennessee football, will be an important piece to have in the locker room.
“Tyreek is another one at the wide receiver position that’s explosive and dynamic,” Heupel said on Wednesday. “His short area of acceleration is really rare and unique. Tyreek, it’s been a long recruitment. I was talking with him last night, and man, two years ago he came by the hotel on a Friday night where he was off. It feels like it was just yesterday and it feels like it was a decade ago all at the same time. Tyreek is a great player, great family.
“Being local, understood what it’s like inside of that stadium. But I think also it’s different for the local kid in that, man, all of his classmates at his high school, all of his extended family, everybody that he’s grown up with, super fans of Tennessee. I think that’s important that you have those guys inside of your locker room because they feel it, they live it 365 days out of the year. I can’t wait to get Tyreek here in the late spring and start going to work with him. I think he’s got a great future in front of him.”
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King has been a Tennessee commit for quite some time now. He originally announced his commitment on Oct. 31, 2024, choosing the Vols over Alabama, Auburn and Michigan. Since then, Tennessee has pulled commitments and signatures from other high-level offensive skill players, including five-star wide receiver Tristen Keys and four-star athlete Legend Bey.
According to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings, King is listed as the No. 108 player in the class, the No. 15 wide receiver in the nation, and the No. 5 player from the state of Tennessee. He’s been an elite player at the high school level, and there’s little reason to believe that he won’t be able to translate that to an SEC field with the Volunteers.
King will not be early enrolling at Tennessee. Instead, he’ll be one of a few players to join the team after spring camp and for fall ball heading into the 2026 season. He presumably won’t be a key piece in the offense next year with the expected return of Braylon Staley, but he could be a star in the coming years.
