Elite 5-star recruit that the Tennessee Vols were hoping to flip officially shuts down his recruitment

The Tennessee Vols were hoping to flip 2026 five-star edge rusher Tristian Givens from the Texas A&M Aggies.

But unfortunately for the Vols, it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Givens, who took an official visit to Tennessee in June, told On3 this week that his recruitment is "shut down".

Tennessee and Florida State were the two programs that posed the biggest threat to Texas A&M for Givens.

Tristian Givens has been compared to former Tennessee Vols edge rusher James Pearce

Givens, 6-foot-4/215 lbs from Columbus, GA, is rated by 247Sports as the No. 3 edge rusher in the nation and the No. 4 player in the state of Georgia. He's also rated as the No. 24 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class.

The five-star recruit was on the Vols' radar in large part because he has a similar skillset as former Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce.

247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins compared Givens to Pearce due to his "explosive take-offs and a high pressure rate that has a chance to bake into a true difference-maker up front".

"[Givens'] multi-sport profile and testing data aligns with most of the edge assassins being selected in the early rounds of the NFL Draft these days," noted Ivins.

Givens told On3 that he won't be visiting any other programs this fall, so it's very unlikely that Tennessee will be able to get the talented edge rusher to change his mind about his commitment to Texas A&M.

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