Tennessee football officially welcomed the start of its 2026 recruiting class on Wednesday, as the early signing period began.

Head coach Josh Heupel took the podium to address the media around 2 p.m., welcoming 23 signees to the roster. That includes four-star athlete Legend Bey, who announced his flip from Ohio State as Heupel walked into his press conference.

It is Heupel’s highest-ranked recruiting class in his six years at the helm, which continued to get stronger as the day went on. He reeled in three five-star talents according to 247Sports’ rankings —  the most since Butch Jones signed three from the high school ranks in 2015.

“This is always a huge day for the future of our program,” Heupel said. “So excited about the guys that we have signed.”

Offensive tandem goes official

Quarterback Faizon Brandon and wide receiver TK Keys highlight the class, both signing in the morning.

Brandon, who is the program’s ninth-highest rated commit all-time and the third-rated quarterback in the class according to 247Sports’ composite rankings, has been committed since Aug. 2024. But it’s more than just football that Heupel saw in his quarterback of the future. He saw the athleticism on the hardwood.

“First of all, Faizon’s a great player,” Heupel said. “We had an opportunity to watch him on the basketball court, extremely explosive, great touch, had great presence and bodies in motion. You see that on the football tape, obviously as well.”

Keys is another top player, ranking as the No. 11 player in the country. After a lengthy battle against LSU for the talented Mississippian, Tennessee won the battle. Keys also has a personal brand deal with Adidas, which strengthens the Vols’ case when they roll out Adidas apparel as part of a 10-year partnership announced in August.

“Kelsey (Pope) did a great job with him,” Heupel said. “Our staff did with TK. His family, dynamic wide receiver, super loose at the line of scrimmage. He has the ability to stretch it vertically but it has ball-in-hand value as well. He has the ability to go attack the football. Dynamic player that is really excited about being here at Tennessee and we’re excited to have him for sure.”

He’s part of a three-man receiving class that has already signed. Local Knoxville Catholic product Tyreek King joins talented athlete Bey and Keys as a trio of recruits under wide receivers coach Kelsey Pope.

Locking down the borders

Tennessee put an emphasis on the in-state talent in 2026. It helped with a loaded pool to choose from, too.

The Vols inked the top defensive prospect in the state with Joel Wyatt out of Oakland High School in Murfreesboro, while also picking up the top offensive lineman in Gabriel Osenda out of Baylor School in Chattanooga.

Overall, Heupel earned pen-to-paper from five of the top seven prospects in the state — with Kirkwood offensive lineman Kamari Blair, East Robertson defensive lineman Zach Groves and Greeneville athlete Zaydyn Anderson also on the list.

“I think our staff did a great job here in-state,” Heupel said. “From the moment I got here, I said it was important for us to go recruit it the right way. It doesn’t mean that we take every player, but that we recruit it the right way.”

King sits just outside at No. 11 in the state. The rest of the in-state class includes Jackson North Side’s Javonte Smith, Franklin’s Luke Thompson and Baylor’s Jamyan Theodore.

Bringing in King adds an important tool to the locker room, though. Being a Knoxville product, he enters with the knowledge of the program already — being that he’s surrounded by it on a daily basis.

“Being local, (he) understood what it’s like inside of that stadium,” Heupel said. “But I think also it’s different for the local kid in that, man, all of his classmates at his high school, all of his extended family, everybody that he’s grown up with, (are) super fans of Tennessee. I think that’s important that you have those guys inside of your locker room because they feel it, they live it 365 days out of the year.”

External influence

Though it is American football, Heupel did not hesitate to attack external pipelines.  The Vols’ 2026 signing class features three Canadians, as well as an Australian and an Austrian.

It includes Tennessee prep school teammates Osenda and Theodore, who will be playing for a TSSAA State Championship on Thursday, as well as Massachusetts prep product Carter Gooden, who all hail from Canada. Logan Foley comes by way of ProKick Australia as a Melbourne native. Luca Wolf rounds it out as a member of the NFL Academy, where current Vols edge Emmanuel Okoye entered from.

“You think about the road, the journey that they have to be on to ultimately get to this point,” Heupel said. “There’s so much sacrifice from the families, from the kid moving away from home.”

Heupel believes that makes the transition to a collegiate life easier for those abroad players.

“You know that they’re hungry and desperate to go accomplish their goals and dreams,” Heupel said. “And at the end of the day, that’s what you need inside of your locker room, inside of your position rooms. All those guys are athletic at their position, have really good traits. And guys that have adjusted and grown inside of the landscape of football really quickly.”

Portaling

The transfer portal makes the traditional recruiting process different from what it used to be. It limits how many high schoolers’ college programs take nowadays, but the Vols still have responsibilities to bring in young players.

“It’s different this cycle,” Heupel said. “Just the timing of the portal in general. I think it’s a positive for us. We’ll look at what we signed in this class, what we have coming back and then attack the portal. How we continue to grow our roster to be ready to go compete and win a championship.”

Tennessee took seven transfers a season ago — many of whom have played heavily contributing roles. Joey Aguilar emerged as the team’s starting quarterback, while cornerback Colton Hood has cemented himself as a top-round NFL Draft pick.

Heupel took 10 transfers in his first season as head coach, but has not taken more than that in an offseason since. He is averaging 8.4 portal pickups in each of the five opportunities he has had. With the high school class making their choices official, he’ll have a chance to evaluate the needs of next year’s team.

“I wouldn’t say anything as of right now, but certainly here over the coming days and weeks, we will look hard at that,” Heupel said. “We’re finishing up exit interviews with our current players now and then be ready to attack that when it comes.”

The early signing period concludes on Friday, and Tennessee has all of its prior commits signed as of late Wednesday evening.

Smith, CJ Edwards, Anderson, Breeze Carter and JJ Finch all signed their papers after Heupel’s press conference concluded around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Full recruiting class:

• Gabriel Osenda, offensive lineman

• Ed Baker, offensive lineman

• KJ McClain, defensive back

• Jowell Combay, defensive back

• Brayden Rouse, linebacker

• Logan Foley, punter

• Zach Groves, defensive lineman

• Faizon Brandon, quarterback

• Jamyan Theodore, defensive back

• Hezekiah Harris, defensive lineman

• Luke Thompson, defensive back

• Tyreek King, wide receiver

• TK Keys, wide receiver

• Luca Wolf, tight end

• Joel Wyatt, defensive back

• Nuk Simmons, defensive lineman

• Darryl Rivers, defensive lineman

• Kamari Blair, offensive lineman

• Kedric Golston II, defensive lineman

• TJ White, linebacker

• Dereon Albert, defensive lineman

• Legend Bey, wide receiver

• Carter Gooden, defensive lineman

• Javonte Smith, defensive back

• CJ Edwards, defensive lineman

• Zay Anderson, defensive back

• Breeze Carter, defensive lineman

• JJ Finch, defensive lineman