UNBLIEVIBEL: Tennessee football closing in on 4-star DL after he canceled an SEC visit…

While some Tennessee football fans may be a bit disappointed that the program lost a 4-star commit earlier in the week in Tyran Evans, it feels like a positive update will be coming soon. That’s right, you should probably circle July 1 on your calendars.

That’s because 4-star defensive lineman Dereon Albert is all set to announce his college decision. Albert just took his Tennessee official visit and things went awesome for him. So much in fact, he decided to cancel his weekend trip to Mississippi State. With his decision coming soon, all signs are pointing to the Vols winning this recruiting battle:

On Thursday, On3’s Chad Simmons, a trusted source in the recruiting world, put in his official pick for Albert to pick the Vols. Usually when someone from On3 makes a prediction like this, they’re on the money. Come July 1, we’ll know for sure what Albert decides.

If he indeed ends up picking the Vols, it’s going to be a big-time get for Heupel and his staff. Throughout his recruitment, the 6-2, 305-pounder has picked up more than 30 offers. His list includes Tennessee, Mississippi State, Arkansas, North Carolina, Auburn, Nebraska and many others.

According to 247Sports, the elite recruit is ranked the No. 28 DL in the country, No. 8 player from Mississippi and No. 184 playmaker nationally for the 2026 class. The Vols have shown high interest in Albert for quite some time, with Heupel hoping his efforts will pay off soon.

Thankfully, everyone isn’t going to have to wait much longer for a final decision to arrive. As of this writing, we are less than two weeks away from Albert making his final call. At this point, however, it’s going to feel like a bit of a shocker if he doesn’t commit to Tennessee.

There’s a loaded official visit weekend ahead for the Tennessee football team, but that doesn’t mean Josh Heupel and Co. aren’t still celebrating the big news that came in this week. In case you missed it, the Vols are on the board for the 2027 class.

Not long ago, youngster JP Peace announced his commitment to the Vols. Peace is the grandfather of Tennessee legend Phillip Fulmer, while his dad Robert also suited up for the program. The decision was an easy one for the talented linebacker, which he made more than clear in an interview with sports anchor Camille Gear:

“Obviously, I didn’t go there (just) because my grandpa is Phillip Fulmer, but it was really cool to take that experience he has from him and use that to make my decision,” Peace told Gear. “Tennessee, I did dream about as a kid. As I got more mature and closer to the decision, I took all my options, considered all of them and Tennessee just popped out the most to me.”

Incredible. Peace is ready to run through a wall for Tennessee and this is no doubt a verbal pledge years in the making. He’s surely seen old highlights of his grandpa playing for Tennessee, while his dad has no question told him about his glory days too.

This is a Tennessee family through and through, which Peace hasn’t forgotten about. Throughout his recruitment, the 6-3, 215-pounder picked up offers from Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia Tech and a handful of others.

However, all the signs were pointing in the direction of Tennessee capturing an early pledge from him. That’s exactly how things went down for Heupel and his staff. Moving forward, Peace will be chomping at the bit to graduate and eventually suit up for this team in the fall of 2027.