With the vast majority of Tennessee’s 2026 signing class on campus for winter workouts, the time for ratings and rankings is essentially over. The players are now in Knoxville, with their teammates and coaches, and preparing for their first season on Rocky Top with spring ball coming in just a couple of months. Star ratings and position rankings are officially meaningless, and it’s all about the competition on the gridiron.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few more tidbits of ratings and rankings news to sort through, though.
Rivals released its final recruiting rankings update on Tuesday to shake things up one last time in the cycle. These alterations did affect some of Tennessee’s players, including EDGE rusher Carter Gooden, who rose up 75 spots to the No. 74 overall player in the nation.
Tennessee’s 27-man recruiting class lands at No. 8 in the country after the Rivals’ ratings update on Tuesday. It’s a three-spot rise for the Volunteers, which previously came in at No. 11 before the shakeup.
Southern Cal sits as the nation’s top class, with Notre Dame and Oregon rounding out the top three. Other SEC programs in the Top 10 include No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Alabama, No. 7 Texas A&M, and No. 10 Texas. The other two programs are No. 6 Ohio State and 2025 runner-up Miami at the No. 9 slot.
Other notable SEC rankings include No. 11 LSU, No. 15 Florida, No. 18 South Carolina, No. 29 Vanderbilt, and No. 51 Kentucky.
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Football’s 2026 Signees Sit in Rivals’ Final Rankings
Out of the 27 players who have signed with Tennessee, 24 of them are early enrollees who have landed on campus. Tennessee posted pictures and videos of the move-in process on Jan. 15 and announced the 24 early enrollee players on Jan. 26.
These 24 players include DB Zay Anderson, OL Ed Baker, OL Kamari Blair, QB Faizon Brandon, EDGE Breeze Carter, DB Jowell Combay, EDGE CJ Edwards, OL JJ Finch, P Logan Foley, EDGE Kedric Golston II, EDGE Carter Gooden, EDGE Zach Groves, EDGE Hezekiah Harris, WR TK Keys, DB KJ McClain, OL Gabriel Osenda, DL Darryl Rivers, LB Brayden Rouse, DB Javonte Smith, DB Jamyan Theodore, DB Luke Thompson, LB TJ White, TE Luca Wolf, and DB Joel Wyatt.
247Sports’ Composite Rankings have Tennessee as the No. 7 class in the nation and the No. 3 class in the SEC.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football recruiting coverage.
One Response
Wait. When did Miami join the SEC?