Tennessee Football made some major moves at the start of the early signing period on Wednesday. Josh Heupel and his staff had already assembled a strong class, which began the day between No. 8 and No. 11 in the country based on different publications, but UT had a few more surprises up its sleeve throughout the day that helped take this thing up to a historic class on Rocky Top.
Wednesday was all about the flips for Tennessee, taking players away from rivals and out-of-conference foes alike. Tennessee even re-flipped one of its former commits back into the Volunteer class. The Vols also saw an elite player flip away from the program, but all in all, it was a huge day on Rocky Top.
That’s why Tennessee was listed as one of five “winners” on the day by Rivals’ Greg Smith.
“Don’t look now but Tennessee quietly has the No. 5 class in the country right now,” Smith wrote. “The class is led by a pair of five-stars with quarterback Faizon Brandon and wide receiver Tristen Keys. Both signed on Wednesday. But the Vols also got electric running back Legend Bey back in the class, flipping him from Ohio State. The team also flipped four-star Carter Gooden from UCLA and held onto four-star Joel Wyatt. It’s a good day to be coach Josh Heupel.”
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Football’s 2026 Signing Class Ranks Nationally
Tennessee began the day like any school, grabbing signatures from the committed players who were already in the class. That included, as Smith mentioned, key players such as Brandon, Keys, local wide receiver Tyreek King, in-state offensive lineman Gabriel Osenda, and in-state athlete Joel Wyatt.
The first big move of the day came around 1:30 p.m. ET, when Tennessee flipped four-star defensive end Carter Gooden from UCLA. Gooden wound up choosing Tennessee over Vanderbilt and UCLA, giving the Vols their first signing day flip victory of the day. It would only continue, though.
Moments later, four-star athlete Legend Bey flipped from Ohio State to Tennessee. Bey originally committed to UT back in June, but flipped his commitment to the Buckeyes in November. In one of the most shocking twists of the day, Bey actually flipped his commitment back to the Volunteers and signed with Tennessee. Regardless of the movement, he’s an electric player who is extremely versatile on offense.
Then, at 5:00 p.m. ET, Tennessee landed a commitment from four-star EDGE rusher Jordan Carter to add another body to the trenches of the defensive line. Carter was committed to Texas A&M for a while, but de-committed on Nov. 1. That was also the day he took an unofficial visit to Rocky Top to see Tennessee take on Oklahoma. He also visited Tennessee two weeks later for the win over New Mexico State.
Tennessee closed the day by flipping three-star defensive tackle JJ Finch from SEC rival Alabama around 7:00 p.m. ET. There was a lot of talk leading into the day that Finch was going to flip to Tennessee, based on reports that had surfaced the day before on Tuesday. Finch had been committed to Alabama for a while, but Tennessee never stopped pursuing the Indiana native.
Tennessee did lose a player with blue-chip four-star athlete Salesi Moa, flipping his commitment from Tennessee to his home-state school of Utah. It didn’t necessarily come as a surprise, but it was a big hit. Moa is an extremely talented player who would’ve worked well with this Tennessee team.
Any way you look at it, though, Wednesday was a massive day for the Tennessee football team. As Greg Smith said, it was a good day to be Josh Heupel. He was stacking up wins on the recruiting trail by retaining the vast majority of his class and flipping some pieces to his list as well.
Click here to see where Tennessee Football’s 2026 signing class ranks nationally, as of Thursday morning.
