With the impending August commitment of #1 overall 2026 player, QB Faizon Brandon, who happens to hail not just from NC but also from the same high school as former UT great Hendon Hooker, Josh Heupel is firmly establishing North Carolina as the 3rd leg of his recruiting stool along with GA and of course an instate talent base that continues to grow each year.
Taking a look at the current roster, you of course start with Edge James Pearce, who's about to spend all season getting possible #1 overall pick hype for the 2025 draft. Then you've got rotational DL Daevin Hobbs, who was a borderline 5-star in the 2023 class and is likely to be a starter in the 2025 season. Finally, former 4-star WR Nathan Leacock was just a true freshman last season and will look to make a name for himself and back up that ranking starting this fall.
This 2025 class is another step forward in this strategy, with the Vols already holding commitments from IOL Antoni Kade Ogumoro (who currently lives in OK but grew up in NC, which is why UNC was a factor) and blue-chip DL Charles House (for whom the Vols beat out UGA and Bama). And of course it's a matter of weeks before 5-star OT David Sanders announces his commitment to the Vols, which will be a major red alert for the rest of the country in many ways outside of this context but specifically when it comes to the Vols recruiting the state. Signing these 3 stud lineman would double the amount of North Carolinians on the roster YoY and really set the stage for the 2026 class.
Obviously Brandon will be the headliner and the clear hope is that he'll be a GMac-type Pied Piper for the 2026 class overall and especially in NC, where the Vols are already heavily involved with the following prospects:
TE Kendre Harrison
S Samari Matthews
OT Leo Delaney
LB Dallas Brannon
WR Brody Keefe
S Nicholas Reddish
DL Noah Clark
Edge Zavion Griffin-Haynes
Edge Elijah Littlejohn
Edge Rodney Durham
OT Ja'Vaughn Hargett
UT will neither heavily pursue nor ultimately land all of these guys. But with Brandon in the fold (very early), a head start on them with pre-junior season visits and then of course what we all expect to be a bigtime season during which we'll have multiple showcase home games AND a game against NCSU in Charlotte, I'd bet dollars to donuts we continue to make this state a major priority and have more and more success there. Add in the continued decline of Clemson (who has made a living in NC) and the impending retirement of Mack Brown (which could, admittedly, be a detriment if they hire someone capable of competing against us) - not to mention the only growing cavernous gap between the SEC and ACC, and you can see this strategy playing out and NC sitting right behind TN and GA in terms of where UT and Heupel source elite talent for a sustained run going forward