After a surge of spring commitments in April and May, Rivals has released its updated team recruiting rankings for the 2027 college football landscape. Tennessee saw one commitment during this time, with three-star cornerback Carter Jamison announcing his commitment to the Volunteers last Saturday. Jamison is the seventh commitment in Tennessee’s 2027 class so far.
Four-star wide receiver Kesean Bowman sits atop the Vols’ current class. Rivals has him ranked as the No. 58 player in the class, the No. 10 wide receiver in the nation, and the No. 3 player from the Volunteer State. Bowman plays for Brentwood Academy in Brentwood, TN.
Behind Bowman are a pair of longtime Tennessee commitments with four-star offensive tackle Princeton Uwaifo and four-star defensive lineman Kadin Fife. Uwaifo is a Tennessee native out of Murfreesboro and is tagged as the No. 136 player overall and the No. 13 offensive tackle in the cycle. Fife, meanwhile, committed to Tennessee out of Summerville, GA. Fife is ranked as the No. 343 player in the class and the No. 36 defensive lineman in the cycle.
One of Tennessee’s two March commitments was Jaden Butler, a three-star safety out of Brownsville, TN. Butler is listed as the No. 44 safety in the class. The Vols’ longest commitment is three-star legacy linebacker J.P. Peace, who began the Vols’ class last June. Peace is ranked as the No. 43 linebacker in the class and is the son of former UT linebacker Robert Peace and the grandson of Phillip Fulmer.
Tennessee found a quarterback in the ’27 cycle back in February with three-star prospect Derrick Baker out of Milton, GA. The six-foot QB is listed at No. 38 for his position in the class. And as previously mentioned, Jamison is the most recent Tennessee commit as of last weekend. He ranks as the No. 97 cornerback in the class and a three-star prospect.
Rivals has Tennessee’s recruiting class listed at No. 23 in the country, making it good for the ninth-best class from the SEC. The Vols sit behind No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 6 Florida, No. 8 LSU, No. 9 Georgia, No. 13 Texas, No. 16 Kentucky, and No. 17 Auburn.
While Tennessee’s class might not be ranked as high as some Vol fans would like to see, there’s no reason to be hitting the panic button. For one, there’s not much separation (points-wise) between Tennessee and the teams ahead of it. Rivals has Tennessee with an 88.88 class score. Kentucky, which is seven spots ahead of Tennessee, has an 89.565 class score. It’s only May, after all, and there are still countless dominoes to fall during the remainder of the recruiting cycle.
If the Vols can capitalize on summer recruiting, they’ll be in a good spot. In the 2026 recruiting cycle, several of Tennessee’s top signees committed in the summer or later, including five-star WR TK Keys, four-star LB TJ White, four-star LB Brayden Rouse, four-star S Joel Wyatt, four-star OT Kamari Blair, four-star CB Zay Anderson, and four-star EDGEs Hezekiah Harris, Breeze Carter, and Zach Groves.
Tennessee finished the 2026 cycle with the ninth-best class in the nation and the fourth-best class in the SEC.
“As Tennessee continues its trek to reach the top of the college football mountain, it continues to recruit like one of the nation’s top programs,” Rivals’ Hunter Shelton wrote on Tuesday. “Josh Heupel and the Volunteers officially signed the No. 9 class in the nation in the 2026 cycle in February. With the 2027 cycle rolling, Tennessee is once again making some noise.”
