Why the Tennessee Vols are in danger of losing a key in-state recruit to the Vanderbilt Commodores

The Tennessee Vols could be in danger of losing a key in-state 2026 football recruit to the Vanderbilt Commodores. 

2026 four-star athlete Joel Wyatt, 6-foot-4/195 lbs from Bell Buckle, TN, is rated in 247Sports' composite rankings as the No. 2 player in the state of Tennessee and the No. 43 overall player in the nation (he's not far away from five-star status). 

Wyatt, who is set to announce his commitment on July 6, told On3 this week that he's down to Vanderbilt and Tennessee. 

Typically, this a recruiting battle that Tennessee wins 10 times out of 10. The Commodores, however, are a legitimate threat to land Wyatt over the Volunteers. 

That's mostly because the Vols see Wyatt as an outside linebacker, whereas Vanderbilt is telling the four-star athlete that they'll give him playing time at wide receiver and safety. 

"Vanderbilt wants me to play wide receiver and safety and Tennessee wants me to play linebacker," said Wyatt to On3. "Position is something I have to think about. NIL will be part of it too. I just want fair value."

It's believed that Wyatt would prefer to play either wide receiver or safety. Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney, in fact, noted this week that playing safety is what Wyatt "wants to do" at the next level. 

Tennessee's coaching staff is known for being up front with recruits, so it's not a surprise that they're being transparent with Wyatt about where they see him playing in college. 

At the same time, I think the Vols should at least be open to giving him a shot at playing wide receiver and/or safety. I'm not a talent evaluator -- and I obviously don’t see the game the way high-level college football coaches do -- but we've all seen plenty of examples where players end up thriving at a different position than the one they started at. You never really know how a player will perform at any given position until they actually get on campus.

Losing Wyatt to Vanderbilt and then seeing him thrive for the Commodores would be brutal for Tennessee. The Vols need to do whatever they can to keep that from happening