Since Josh Heupel joined Tennessee, he has made lots of positive changes to the team. This season, he has led them to an 8-1 record, and they are also among the serious contenders for the college football playoffs. At the same time, the Volunteers have made significant strides in recruiting over the years. Heupel and the staff rarely experience decommitments or flips. After losing to Arkansas, they made sure to bounce back, and now they have won four straight games after a challenging week. This week, Tennessee is all set to play against Georgia Bulldogs. Winning is the only option to solidify the place in the playoffs. However, with the national championship, the signing days are also around the corner, and it looks like the Bulldogs are trying to flip three 4-star commits this week.

On November 15, Steve Wiltfong, On3 Vice President, National College Football Recruiting and Transfer Portal, appeared on On3’s YouTube channel and discussed Georgia’s brilliant move to flip Tennessee’s top recruits. Yes! You heard it right. Kirby Smart is focusing on two things at a time. “Austin Price, our Tennessee insider, is already reporting that Shaedy Hayward will not be at Georgia this weekend,” Although Lagonza Hayward himself announced that he is not flipping his decision; the rumors are not ending.

Even Steve made it clear, “He’s probably the hardest one, the flip of the three; in my opinion, Georgia tried to get him to the game against Florida as well. Now Florida is trying to battle for Shaedy Hayward here late in the process as well, but Tennessee certainly has the clamps on that one.” Shaedy is an impressive safety. He had a great year at Toombs High School, and he also ranks 4th among athletes in his position and 76th overall for the 2025 class. Now we know why everybody is running behind him.

Moving forward, Steve mentioned 4-star wide receiver Travis Smith Jr. “As I talk to you guys this morning, talking to our colleague, Chad Simmons, a little bit about Travis Smith Jr. this week, Travis confirmed that he will be in Georgia this weekend. That things are picking up with the Bulldogs here; they already landed. CJ Wiley from in-state recently and are battling Travis Smith.”

Travis Smith Jr. has been committed to Tennessee since mid-July, but he is going to visit the Georgia Bulldogs this weekend. Does that mean he will ditch Heupel? He chose Tennessee over big programs like Alabama, Auburn and the Bulldogs. Although he made his decision to join Tennesee Bulldogs, they did not stop approaching him.

The third player Steve mentioned is Christian Gass. Georgia has been running behind Gass for a long time. Smart also attended his game against the Cedar Shoals, showing his interest in him. But Gass has been committed to Tennessee since 20th July. Talking about him, Steve said, “Tennessee did a great job of getting him in the fold, but he has continued to keep Georgia warm.” He further mentioned, “I would say Georgia would have the best chance of flipping Gass.”

Heupel, are you listening to this? However, we cannot ignore that Gass has a great relationship with the Vols coaching staff. We are sure the faceoff between Tennessee and the Bulldogs is going to be crazy, but let’s see if Kirby Smart and his team successfully flip their commits. Till then, let’s see if Tennesse has any new strategy for Smart’s squad.

Defense vs. Defense: Tennessee or Georgia, who will dominate week 12?

The Georgia Bulldogs are struggling badly on the offensive line. Quarterback Carson Beck has disappointed his fans a lot with his back-to-back poor performances. At the same time, the Vols QB is injured. Nico had to leave the field last week, and as of now, he is in concussion protocol. But both teams have very powerful defenses.

Last week, the Vols proved it once again by stopping Mississippi State under 20 points. But Heupel very well knows that he can’t be overconfident and take the Bulldogs lightly. Rodney Garner, Vols’ defensive line coach, had a conversation with ESPN where he mentioned the change they had made to Vol’s defense, as when the HC and Garner joined the team, they saw them struggling badly at defence. 

“We wanted to change the culture from the very essence of it.” He further commented on Bulldogs game plays and mentioned, “They play a lot of players, which allows them to play really hard and really physically.” He did not reveal much strategy. It will be interesting to see which defense will overpower. Tennessee or Bulldogs?