Just before Tennessee football’s Fall Camp begins, the Vols’ recruiting efforts aren’t slowing down. Instead, Josh Heupel’s program is hosting a number of prospects on Rocky Top this weekend.
VolReport has obtained a majority of the visitor list. Who all is expected to be in Knoxville this weekend?
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Chris Cole will be the lone official visitor this weekend as Tennessee attempts to build some momentum with the linebacker.
Cole is a high school teammate and good friends with Vols running back commit Peyton Lewis and has heard a lot about the program. Now, it’s his turn to see things for himself on the official visit.
Tennessee will have to battle Georgia, Miami and Virginia Tech for the four-star.
Zion Grady is one of the top pass rushers in the 2025 recruiting class and will be back on campus for the weekend.
Grady has shown interest in Tennessee early, and getting him back on Rocky Top is important.
Defensive back Jontae Gilbert has been committed to Ohio State for nearly a year, but that hasn’t stopped other programs from pushing hard for the four-star — including Tennessee.
The Vols have been a constant factor in his recruitment, and getting him on campus again only helps their cause.
Cameron Sparks is the next blue-chip recruit in the recent run that Baylor (Tenn.) has produced. He is a true athlete, being capable of potentially playing receiver, tight end, linebacker or safety at the next level.
His size, athleticism and versatility have made him one of the top recruits in Tennessee — and in the nation.
The first of several blue-chip running backs that are expected to be in attendance, four-star Tory Blaylock will get an initial impression of what Tennessee has to offer.
He is ranked as the second-best all-purpose back in the nation according to Rivals.
Four-star linebacker Christian Jones is expected to visit, despite not holding a Tennessee offer just yet — but he could potentially pick up one on the visit.
Nebraska could be the favorite with Jones early.
Four-star Chauncey Gooden is another high-end in-state recruit for the 2025 cycle that everyone in the nation is interested in.
Continuing to get him back on campus will be crucial for Tennessee, but there seems to be some mutual interest in this recruitment early.
Defensive back Ivan Taylor will visit four schools in four days, including stopping by for Tennessee’s recruiting event.
He first visited Tennessee in April and is the son of two-time Super Bowl champ Ike Taylor.
Martels Carter Jr is another name to know among in-state recruits, and he will be in attendance this weekend.
He has been up to Tennessee multiple times already and is close with current Vols commit Boo Carter.
Lamason Waller will get his first look at Tennessee following his decommittment from Washington.
Michigan is currently out front, but this is Tennessee’s chance for a good first impression.
Donovan Johnson is another premier running back slated to be in for the event. His offer list includes some of the best in the business, and he will continue to get a lot of attention at national powerhouse IMG Academy.
As we noted inside the Rocky Top Forum earlier in the week, Jordan Young will be on campus for the weekend.
He is a relative to VFL — recent third-round NFL draft pick — Byron Young, so this could be a name to watch as things move forward if the visit goes well.
Shavar Young projects to be one of the top players in-state in the 2026 class and has been to Tennessee multiple times already.
His new school — Brentwood Academy — is having a media day on Saturday, which might prevent him from making it in, but he is slated to be in Knoxville if he can.
No. 6 Tennessee now has back-to-back wins under its belt after a 74-56 win over No. 23 Georgia Wednesday night in Knoxville.
The Vols trailed the Bulldogs by one point heading into the halftime break but turned up the heat in the final 20 minutes. Tennessee erupted on a 20-4 run to start the second half of play and kept Georgia far away from striking distance through the final buzzer.
Jordan Gainey put up a sneaky 19 points on Wednesday to lead all scorers but Zakai Zeigler wasn’t far behind with 16 points of his own, much of which came in the second half. Special recognition goes to Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack, who punished a Georgia defense that left him open with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor.
After the game, RTI’s Ric Butler and Ryan Schumpert broke down their thoughts on Tennessee’s rivalry win in the RTI: Reaction show from the arena floor.
Check it out below:
RTI: Reaction
The Tennessee Volunteers and defensive coordinator Tim Banks have agreed to a contract extension, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Banks led one of the country’s top defenses in 2024. The Vols held 11 of their 13 opponents under 20 points on defense and finished fifth nationally in yards per play allowed (4.56).
Banks received interest from multiple teams and coached this season on a contract that expires at the end of January. His new deal will pay him in the $2 million range annually, sources told ESPN, after he made $1.5 million this season.
A finalist for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in college football this season, Banks has been with Josh Heupel all four seasons at Tennessee after coaching under James Franklin at Penn State for five seasons.
Banks, 53, could be without one of his top players for part of next season. Cornerback Jermod McCoy, an ESPN second-team All-American, underwent surgery after tearing an ACL while training at his home in Texas, school officials said.
McCoy will miss spring practice, and his rehabilitation and recovery will determine whether he can get back in time for the start of the 2025 season.
The transfer from Oregon State was a key part of Tennessee’s defense as a sophomore and one of the top returning defensive backs in college football. He tied for the team lead with four interceptions, led the team with nine pass breakups and finished third with 44 total tackles. His 90.3 coverage grade by Pro Football Focus ranked fifth nationally among cornerbacks during the regular season.
Tennessee tied for seventh nationally with 11 touchdown passes allowed in 13 games.
Tennessee legislature: 3 key issues to watch
The 114th Tennessee General Assembly convenes on Jan. 14 for a new two-year term.
Tennessee Republicans are poised to pass new rules that would allow House Speaker Cameron Sexton to ban a spectator from the House gallery for the entirety of the legislative session, an escalation of public protest guardrails the GOP supermajority has implemented in the last two years.
The new two-strike rule allows the speaker to order anyone in the gallery removed for disorderly conduct. If a person is removed once, they will be blocked from returning to the gallery for that day and the next legislative day.
Once a person is deemed disorderly and removed a second time, though, they can be prohibited from the gallery “for any period up to the remainder” of the legislative session.
Sexton could also immediately ban someone for “especially egregious conduct.”
Republicans also gave initial passage Tuesday in the House Rules Committee to a new three-strikes provision that would block a disorderly member from the House chamber, as well.
How Sexton, R-Crossville, might define disorderly or “especially egregious” conduct is fully at his discretion, a point House Democrats have repeatedly criticized over what they argued was inequitable application of the rules. Democrats have argued that by holding supermajority the GOP has total power to define what is and is not considered out of order.
The new rules package come amid several sessions of heated public pushback, typically sharply critical of House Republicans, that first began as gun control protests in the wake of the 2023 Covenant School shooting.
Since then, House Republican leadership has implemented increasingly stringent speaking rules for members, instituted certain signage bans for members of the public and blocked off one-half of the public House gallery for ticketed entrance.
Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, was one of the three Democrats on Tuesday’s House committee that voted against the rules package.
“If the representative can’t be heard, if they can’t express themselves, and then the people are being put out, who are you listening to?” Hakeem asked Rep. Johnny Garret, R-Goodlettsville, who presented the GOP rules package.
Garrett, an attorney, likened the House chamber to a courtroom. Public access does not mean there aren’t rules to follow, he argued.
“Courts in the state of Tennessee are wide open, you and I can walk in and observe,” Garrett said. “But we do not have the constitutional right to scream bloody murder inside a courtroom. That judge would slap us with contempt and throw us in jail.”
Under the new three-strikes rule for House members, a representative who is “called to order” for breaking House rules, which the rules package also refers to as “unruly behavior,” will at first face a limit on their speaking time. For the second transgression, the member would be silenced for two legislative days.
A third transgression could trigger total removal from the House chamber for three legislative days.
Garrett said the House would set up a remote voting chamber in a committee room to allow the member to cast votes.
The remote voting rule appears targeted at Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, who frequently clashes with Sexton and other House Republicans on the chamber floor.
Jones demurred Tuesday when asked if he felt the remote voting punishment was aimed at him but described the rules package overall as “authoritarianism without guardrails.”
“It’s going to impact the right of the public to be here in this building, going to impact their rights and their ability to show up in the capital,” Jones said.
In other rule changes, House members’ bill allowance will drop over the next two years. Members previously could file 15 bills each but would be held to 12 bills in 2025. Next year, the bill allowance would drop to 10 per member. Committee chairs and other leadership would have a higher allowance.
Republicans voted down all rules changes proposed by Democrats, including one brought by Jones to curtail conflicts of interest between lawmakers married to lobbyists.
Republicans also blocked a ban on guns in committee rooms. Firearms are currently banned from the state Capitol but allowed in the adjoining office building.
The new rules package must be adopted by the full House before any changes go into effect, but Republicans easily have the votes to pass the package.
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