Tennessee won the David Gabriel Georges battle on Wednesday night, but the Vols still have their eye on another talented in-state running back from the 2027 cycle. UT is pursuing three-star prospect Asa Barnes, a running back from Westview High School in Martin, TN.
On Wednesday night, Rivals recruiting experts Chad Simmons and Steve Wiltfong both submitted predictions for Tennessee to land Barnes next week. Simmons’ prediction came with a 70% confidence level, while Wiltfong’s was all the way at 80%.
Barnes is ranked as a three-star prospect on Rivals’ recruiting service, coming in as the No. 551 player in the class, the No. 40 running back in the cycle, and the No. 22 player from the state of Tennessee. He’s slated to make his commitment on July 29 at 5 p.m. ET.
The Vols’ coaching staff has gone out to the western part of the state to see Barnes multiple times. He’s also made trips to Knoxville to get a close look at Rocky Top. This featured an official visit to UT on June 19. His primary recruiter with UT is running backs coach De’Rail Sims.
Tennessee has been talking to Barnes for more than a year now. The Vols hosted Barnes on an official visit on June 5, 2025, and offered him a scholarship the same day. The in-state prospect was also in Knoxville for the Georgia game last fall and the Orange & White game this past spring.
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Tennessee has had plenty of familiarity with three-star running backs during the Josh Heupel era. Jaylen Wright and Dylan Sampson were both tagged as three-star prospects during their recruitments, and flourished into thousand-yard single-season rushers on Rocky Top. Sampson wound up setting Tennessee’s all-time single-season rushing mark at 1,491 yards and single-season rushing touchdowns mark at 22 during the 2025 season. Additionally, the Vols return former walk-on running back DeSean Bishop this season, who also ran for 1,000+ yards last year.
While the Vols did land a commitment from five-star running back David Gabriel Georges on Wednesday, Asa Barnes isn’t letting his fellow in-state prospect dictate his recruitment.
“Obviously aware of the shadow of Gabriel Georges and Tennessee’s love for him, but the Vols lead in this recruitment for Asa Barnes,” Wiltfong said on a YouTube show on July 15, before DGG’s commitment. “He doesn’t care who’s in the room, whether DGG’s in the room or not. Tennessee is the program that checks the boxes for him.”
Wiltfong and Simmons’ predictions came less than 30 minutes after Gabriel Georges’ commitment on Wednesday evening. So while there’s no direct confirmation, it definitely sounds like DGG’s commitment isn’t scaring away Barnes from picking Tennessee next week, if he so chooses. But it does seem like Tennessee could be adding two talented running backs from the Volunteer State in the 2027 cycle.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football recruiting coverage.
