Tennessee sure is picking up quite the fire in this year’s recruiting season. Josh Heupel and Co. are riding along the wave of last year’s performance, as seen in the commits they’ve picked up so far. But that’s not just limited to their 2025 class. Even the future looks bright. With seven commits from the 2026 class, Tennessee is ranked No. 7 by On3 Industry Ranking. Heupel is also employing some stealth moves in the arena as he prepares to target a lucrative USC commitment.

Recruiting is a cutthroat battle for football programs. Coaches don’t just fight hard to get great players on board. They also battle other rival coaches to keep these players with them until signing. That will be the case for Lincoln Riley, despite the Trojans being ranked at No. 2 on On3’s Industry Ranking list. Heupel, ranked 5 places below, is undeterred by their placement. The Vols coach has already lost Bryan Anderson, who decommitted some time ago. He is now one amongst the many in the run to secure a five-star talent from the Riley’s camp in Los Angeles.

Heupel is setting his eyes on Xavier Griffin, a 5-star linebacker from Gainesville, Florida. Griffin comes in with great standings and is ranked the No. 2 linebacker in class according to On3 Industry Ranking. 247Sports, on the other hand, bumps him up to No. 1. His high school records show he made 43 tackles, 21 sacks, and 3 forced fumbles over a span of 2 years. Now, USC got to work early, and Griffin committed to the program last July. But he has been looking around. Along with Tennessee, Griffin is also considering Florida State, Ohio State, and Clemson. On3 announced that Griffin will drop in at Knoxville over the weekend, which complicates things much for Riley.

Heupel will be hosting Tennessee’s commits and a few hopeful targets from other programs this weekend. Griffin joins five-star Tennessee commit Faizon Brandon and others like Carson Sneed and Tyson Bacon. Also coming in are Texas A&M commit Jordan ‘Breeze’ Carter and Missouri verbal commit Anthony Kennedy. Heupel will be out with his A-game in trying to get Griffin to flip to the Vols. A worrying fact for Riley is that this is Griffin’s second visit to Knoxville. With the way things are going, it looks like the linebacker’s interest in USC is waning. Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened to Riley.

Josh Heupel is not the only alarm bell for Lincoln Riley

Having recruits poached is one of the most gut-twisting attacks coaches can make on others. Riley has lost some very attractive commits in the past too, and Griffin could be a reminder of this damned pattern. “We all remember what happened with Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson 12 months ago, you know they committed to USC in the spring, but then they didn’t make it back on the campus,” ROC Boys football said.

Terry went to Texas, and Gibson ended up in Georgia. The host also added that there are other big players in this poaching battle. “And look, when you are talking about a five-star guy in the state of Georgia, Kirby Smart, Hugh Freeze, Kalen DeBoer, they are going to be in contact with Xavier Griffin up until he signs up his papers.” With all these names in play, Riley will face even more difficulty in retaining Griffin.

Meanwhile, Griffin has no problem with being in contact with other teams while being committed to USC. “I’m in constant communication with both coaching staffs (Florida State and Tennessee), so it speaks a lot that regardless of being locked in (with USC), they are still building that organic relationship with me and my mom.” However, he also said good things about his bond with USC. “The biggest things that keep me committed to USC are the great coaches, the development, the fan base, and LA.”

Riley might be going all in on the recruiting class, but so are other coaches, especially Josh Heupel. The latter seems to be laying it all out for Griffin to come join him in Knoxville. But until he makes up his mind, it is going to be a ‘will-he-won’t-he’ situation for both Heupel and Riley. Among the two, the USC head coach has the tougher job.