Tennessee football lands 4-star Malik Howard of Oak Ridge over Alabama, LSU, others

Tennessee football defended its home turf by landing Oak Ridge standout Malik Howard, one of the top tight ends in the 2027 class.

Howard announced his commitment to the Vols in an Instagram post during his recruiting visit on June 6. They beat out Alabama, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt among other programs.

Howard, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder, is a four-star recruit. He is the No. 8 player in the state, ranked the No. 8 tight end and No. 183 prospect overall in the 2027 class, according to the 247Sports Composite.

“Just getting to (play) in an offense that’s really grown to learn how to use the tight ends, and that is really going to be key to my development to playing in the NFL, obviously, and just being around really good people in this program,” Howard told GoVols247. “There’s not a lot of places that are as genuine and hard-working as Tennessee is.”

He received dozens of scholarship offers as a prime target for most of the SEC and other Power Four programs. But Tennessee aggressively pursued him to continue its focus on pass-catching tight ends.

In his 2025 junior season, Howard had 53 receptions for 778 yards and 11 touchdowns, almost doubling his sophomore year production. He was an All-PrepXtra second team selection and helped push Oak Ridge to a 9-2 record in the Wildcats’ first season in Class 6A football.

Tennessee football commitments in 2027 class

The early signing period is Dec. 2-4, 2026.

Howard is the 10th commitment in Tennessee’s 2027 recruiting class.

In-state players top the list. Howard, Brentwood Academy tight end Kesean Bowman and Siegel offensive tackle Princeton Uwaifo are four-star prospects. Defensive lineman Kadin Fife (Summerville, Georgia) is also rated four stars.

Cornerback Brandon Leavell (Goodpasture), safety Jaden Butler (Haywood), linebacker JP Peace (Maryville), quarterback Derrick Baker (Alpharetta, Georgia) and cornerback Carter Jamison (Fairburn, Georgia) are three-star prospects. Long snapper Sam McKeown is also committed, but doesn’t have a star rating on 247Sports Compositie. They round out the early commitments.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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