Why the 2024 Tennessee Volunteers recruiting class is far stronger than expected

It seems reasonable on the surface to criticize the Tennessee Vols’ 2024 recruiting class, as they have done over the past few weeks.

Currently, Tennessee has the 13th-ranked class in the country.

It’s widely acknowledged that in order to be a true national championship contender, a class must consistently place in the top five.

However, despite its ranking, Tennessee’s 2024 recruiting class is actually stronger than expected.

With the exception of a few universities, the Vols currently have fewer commits/enrollees than most of the teams ahead of them in the rankings—22 total, including two transfers.

Regarding the Vols’ recruiting class, the more significant figure to consider is their average player rating, which as of Tuesday afternoon (per 247Sports) stands at 91.33.

That is greater than the four schools in the rankings that are ahead of them (LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Miami) in terms of average player ranking. It’s not much higher than groups like Florida, Auburn, Oregon, and Florida State.

It doesn’t seem like Alabama, a team with an average player rating of 92.75, is that much better than the Vols. Alabama has three five-star commits and fifteen four-star commits, compared to Tennessee’s two five-star commits and twelve four-star commits. Though not significantly, the Crimson Tide are in a better position.

Since Phillip Fulmer was fired as the team’s head coach, Tennessee’s current recruiting class average of 91.33 is also the highest for a Vols class.

(To put this in perspective, Butch Jones’ top five class in 2015 had 30 commits despite an average player rating of 89.48.)

Although Tennessee’s recruiting ranking may not appear to be as high as it should be heading into Josh Heupel’s fourth season, it is evident that the Vols are attracting players of a high caliber. And given that Tennessee has been better than some of their rivals at keeping players out of transfer portals—they have lost a few players, but not a significant number—and that they haven’t lost any important players save Tyler Baron, the Vols’ 2024 recruiting class may appear even better in a few years when you account for players who transfer to other programs.