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Tennessee Receives Clear Message from Nation’s No. 1 RB After Official Visit

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated Jun 23, 2025 3:31 PM ET

The Tennessee Volunteers and head coach Josh Heupel find themselves in the middle of an intense recruiting battle for class of 2026 running back Savion Hiter out of Mineral, Virginia.

They are just one of four schools still left standing to land his services, along with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Georgia Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines, meaning the Vols are up against some serious powerhouses.

Tennessee looked to make their impression on Friday, though, as they hosted Hiter for an official visit in Knoxville, marking his fourth time being hosted by the program after three unofficial visits.

On Monday, Hiter commemorated his time there with a social media post captioned, "Thank you @Vol_Football for having my family and I this weekend, appreciate you rolling out the orange carpet #GBO."

Thank you @Vol_Football for having my family and I this weekend appreciate you rolling out the orange carpet #GBO pic.twitter.com/DowdOJFrKL
— Savion “Cinco” Hiter (High-ter) (@5starsavi) June 23, 2025

Last season, Hiter was named a MaxPreps Junior All-American after racking up a total of 1,897 yards and 29 touchdowns, while producing on defense with 56 tackles, seven sacks, four tackles for loss and one interception.

With that kind of production, it's not a huge surprise that On3 Industry Rankings has him as a five-star recruit, the No. 1 running back, the No. 1 player in Virginia and the No. 11 player in the nation.

Now, it will remain to be seen if Tennessee ends up on top for the talented running back, as the Vols are given the third-best chances (17.4%), behind Ohio State (27%) and Georgia (23.6%), but ahead of Michigan (14.5%), per the On3 recruiting prediction machine.

If the Volunteers do end up with Hiter, he would be a major addition to their 2026 recruiting class, which features a total of nine commitments, ranking No. 7 in the SEC and No. 15 in the nation.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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