With On3 acquiring Rivals, the company has gone through its recruiting rankings for the 2026 class and released a new list of top 300 players in the cycle.
Tennessee football’s prized commit in quarterback Faizon Brandon took a significant tumble. Despite being ranked as a five-star and No. 1 overall recruit in the country by 247, Brandon is now considered a four-star and No. 33 player in the class by Rivals.
Prior to the acquisition, Rivals had Brandon ranked as a five-star and No. 2 overall recruit in the country. He was also considered the top quarterback. Now, he is only the No. 3 signal caller and No. 4 player out of North Carolina.
This past year as a junior, Brandon led Grimsley High School to a 16-0 record and 4A state title. Due to his play, he was named Gatorade and MaxPreps Player of the Year in North Carolina. He completed 77.1% of his passes for 2,814 yards with 35 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He also ran for nine scores.
Brandon has been committed to Tennessee since August 3, 2024. Since then, he has only taken visits to Knoxville, including an official visit on June 13. In total, he has been to UT at least five times since committing.
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Also in Rivals’ new rankings, slot receiver Tyreek King took a big drop. After knocking on the door of five-star status in Rivals’ old rankings, the Tennessee commit is now the No. 60 player in the class and No. 9 receiver. Just behind him, new four-star offensive line commit J.B. Shabazz registers as the No. 65 recruit and No. 9 offensive tackle.
Linebacker commit TJ White clocks in at No. 71 and the No. 5 linebacker in the cycle. Fellow linebacker Brayden Rouse is down at No. 125 and No. 7 at the position. Athlete Legend Bey is at No. 280 and in-state edge rusher Zach Groves rounds out the list at No. 300.
A notable omission is offensive tackle Gabriel Osenda. He is a five-star according to 247, but registers as a three-star in Rivals’ new rankings. Tight end Carson Sneed, who was previously a four-star recruit, has also dropped to three-star status.
As a class, Tennessee owns the No. 15 group in the country. Other big-time targets not committed to UT at the moment are running back Savion Hiter at No. 12 and LSU wide receiver commit Tristen Keys at No. 15, who is now considered a four-star on the site.
11 Responses
The star ratings are like the Heisman, a pile of garbage!
Why such a tumble? Are some of these recruiting analysts linked to certain schools/conferences? Seems like little more than some childish tinkering/arguing to me in an effort to prove that my school is better than yours. And if we have to, we’ll resort to some childish games in an effort to curtail enthusiasm for your school. It’s really sad how childish people van be. I see it on display by “pro” athletes all the time, and their followers. Seems like if you make your living doing all these conversations with sports that you’d want to protect your reputation/integrity. This kind of drop raises more questions about the reporters/evaluators than it does for the athletes concerned.
If no one has noticed Rivals.com always drops any Tennessee signee. They did it with MacIntyre as well, but in the end it does not matter. It’s up to the coaches to develop these players that obviously have talent
Who cares where they are ranked? Their play on the field will determine that.
They just can’t stand it when Tennessee starts coming back to what we used to be a top 10 powerhouse. Rivals has to owned by someone that’s either an Alabama or Georgia fan.
What do expect from a bunch of losers who never played this game. Yet think they are experts. The crowd at Applebee’s during college football season is way more informed than you never were’s talking smack behind their backs one day karma will pay you a visit. Hope you have everything in order
Come on I know Kirby smart paid you and I know this for sure now big boy. . You coward
Any time UT gets a recruit the first thing that the ranking services do is drop them a bunch. If any of these guys where going to Alabama, OSU, A&M, UF, or the other UT they would have have bumped up to the top of the rankings.
It would be the best thing for college football.
These a**holes doing the rankings must be the same ones voting for Heisman.
Star ratings mean nothing, Harbaugh didn’t have that many 5 stars he would take a 3 and make them ac4 plus or 5. And it helps knowing the other teams plays. Go Blue