Vols climb back into top 10 of recruiting rankings after beating Georgia for Christian Gass
Tennessee football climbed back into the top 10 of the 247Sports team recruiting rankings after beating out Georgia and USC for four-star linebacker/edge Christian Gass.
Tennessee football could be heating back up on the recruiting trail after landing another commitment to complete a big-time win against an SEC rival. The Vols made a second addition to their 2025 class in July on Saturday afternoon when four-star linebacker/edge Christian Gass, the standout defender at Eastside High School in Covington, Ga., announced his commitment to Tennessee, which he picked over Georgia and Southern California after taking official
visits to those three schools plus Kentucky and Florida earlier this summer. Landing Gass saw Tennessee climb several spots in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings and return to a place in the top 10 – with some elite targets still to announce in the coming weeks.
The 6-foot-2.5, 215-pound Gass is rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports, which ranks him the No. 42 linebacker and No. 41 player in Georgia for the 2025 cycle, and he’s a four-star prospect that’s ranked the No. 204 overall player and No. 22 linebacker in the 247Sports Composite for the class.
Coming off a breakout junior season that saw him rack up 68 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and two sacks, Gass is Tennessee’s second commitment of the month after the Vols landed Top247 wide receiver Travis Smith Jr. out of Atlanta a week ago.
Tennessee offered Gass in December and hosted him on a visit for the first time for a spring practice in March. He started his tour of official visits at Florida at the end of May and then saw Georgia and USC on consecutive weekends. After a trip to Kentucky, Gass was at Tennessee for his final official visit the weekend of June 21.
Gass was unsure if he would even take an official visit to Tennessee at one point during his recruitment, but the Vols worked their way back into it and in the end were the choice for the versatile defender.
Of Tennessee’s 18 commitments, Gass is the 10th player rated as a four-star prospect either by 247Sports or in the 247Sports Composite.
Gass’s commitment pushed Tennessee football’s total to 251.49 points, which moved the Vols from No. 12 to No. 9, passing Michigan, Miami and Clemson. Tennessee still has the sixth-best class in the expanded 16-team SEC. The average player rating for the Vols is 91.02, which is 12th-best nationally.
Tennessee moved past Michigan (245.48 points/16 commitments), bumped Miami (248.43/18) out of the top 10 and cleared Clemson (249.11/14).
The Vols also closed the gap on SEC rivals Oklahoma (255.91/21) at No. 8 and Texas A&M (262.44/19) at No. 7.
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The top five classes currently are Ohio State (310.87/24), Alabama (306.22/22), Georgia (283.62/20), LSU (276.83/17) and Oregon (270.65/16) with Notre Dame (265.27/21) just outside in sixth.
Tennessee football is trying to put together another strong recruiting class after landing the No. 10-ranked class in 2023 and the No. 14-ranked class in 2024 – those two classes included three five-star prospects and 24 four-stars per the 247Sports Composite ratings.
