By: Clayton Wood, contributing sports writer

This week through Friday, the early signing period opens and Tennessee is set to lock in a class of recruits headlined by two five-star talents and a national top ten ranking. But what matters even more than the ranking is what these two particular five stars actually represent.

Josh Heupel has never had a quarterback like Faizon Brandon. He’s not Nico. He’s the most complete, most physically gifted, most mentally mature quarterback Heupel has ever signed. He’s a future leader and he’s the type of player who can finally bring Tennessee its first Heisman. He is such a gravitational force as a recruit that Tennessee landed the best wide receiver in the entire country because of him. LSU had him wrapped up. Then Tristen Keys flipped to Knoxville to play with Brandon. That’s the kind of pairing that changes the next five years of Tennessee football.

When you get into the 24/7 sports top 100 players in the country, you see 7 guys in the top 80 that will be wearing orange. That is the kind of elite recruiting Tennessee has to have to get back to the playoffs with a foundational roster developed by the coaching staff. 

That’s the core Tennessee is signing this week…so far! That’s why this early signing period matters. But it’s not the finish line. It’s checkpoint one.

Because from January 2 to January 16, the transfer portal window opens and that is where Tennessee has to fix whatever holes can’t be filled by recruiting and by “coaching up” the current roster. If the Vols are serious about making a real push in 2026, both windows matter.

There are still opportunities on the recruiting board this week. Let’s talk about the biggest name on the board.

Jordan Carter. He is the highest-rated uncommitted defensive player in America. Programs don’t get many chances to land a kid like this in late December without a flip. He’s long, fast, violent, scheme-proof, and the kind of player who can develop into a terror for QBs. A 4 star, as high as 150 or so nationally in some services. Tennessee wants him. Badly. And he is realistic. (UPDATE: SIGNED!)

Then you have Carter Gooden. Another high end defensive player who has made it clear he likes Tennessee. Gooden may not have the national headline value of Jordan Carter, but he’s the type of player who this staff can turn into a defensive stalwart. He could also be part of the UCLA commit to Tennessee train that worked out so well with Aguilar. (UPDATE: SIGNED!)

We better pray we hold onto Coach Rodney Garner. He has been one of the best recruiters in college football since way back when he brought Jamal Lewis, Deon Grant and Cosey Coleman to Tennessee. Inge is also a great recruiter, but Garner is central to the recruiting excellence in Knoxville.

Then there’s Brooks, Carr, and Latimer. All real options. All legitimate SEC-level players who could round out a class that matches the top of the league in both talent and depth. None of them are desperation takes. They are the kind of smart evaluations Heupel’s staff has quietly excelled at: athletic kids with real upside who will grow into contributors.

If Tennessee closes with the addition of Carter and Gooden (DONE!) and then locks down one or two of Brooks, Carr, Latimer, this staff has gotten everyone they want. If a couple don’t go our way, that doesn’t kill the class. It just moves the resource pool to January.

In this NIL-driven era, missing on a recruit doesn’t just mean losing a player. It means freeing up more NIL budget for proven players in the portal.

You either pay for a maybe-ready seventeen-year-old, or you use that same money on a player who has already started twenty games at the Power Five level. That’s the modern calculus.

Heupel has hit on the portal before. Hendon Hooker. Jermod McCoy. Colton Hood. Joey Aguilar. Transfers who didn’t come in with five star ink but played like it when the ball snapped. Heupel understands the portal because he was a transfer himself. He knows how to spot the ones who are humble and hungry.

If a few high school kids chase the biggest offer somewhere else, Tennessee can pivot and bring in men who have already done it on Saturdays.

So, January 2–16 becomes the real roster surgery period.
With the NCAA moving the portal window to this clean January stretch, roster building becomes far more strategic. By January 2, Tennessee will know exactly who they signed, who stayed, who left, and what positions demand immediate upgrades.

This is when the real work happens. This is when Tennessee has to build a roster capable of beating a schedule that will include multiple playoff level teams again.

If Tennessee misses on a Carter, a Martinez, or a Finney type, the staff isn’t stuck. That NIL money doesn’t disappear. It becomes ammunition for the exact portal player you need.

You know who used the portal to buy some great players, some older players, some hardworking studs with swagger? Clark Lea at Vandy.

Also when you see TN guys going into the portal? Understand that so far every single one has been asked to move on. The portal is helping us find space for some guys without the brutal pulling of a scholarship for someone who will always be buried on the depth chart.

Scan the national chatter today and you’ll see the same story: Tennessee’s recruiting class is being treated as a legit top ten haul anchored by the best quarterback Heupel has ever signed and the top wide receiver in the country who flipped because of him. The rest of the nation sees this as a foundation class. 

Keep in mind that Heupel entered on the heels of over 200 infractions from former coach Pruitt. Other teams for 2 years used the looming sanctions to tell people they wouldnt be able to be in a bowl game if they came to TN. Heupel didnt cry about it, he just kept working, but fans who aren’t clueless know he is still today hampered by fallout from the NCAA restrictions from the worst hire in my lifetime at Tennessee, Jeremy “heres your bag of cash in a McDonalds bag” Pruitt.

What is Heupel’s recruiting trajectory?

2021: No. 23 nationally
2022: No. 17 nationally
2023: No. 10 nationally
2024: No. 13 nationally
2025: No. 11 nationally
2026: Currently ranked No. 7 nationally

Now it’s about closing the board on Friday and then turning to January to finish the job.