Tennessee football just earned a really good commitment when four-star linebacker Brayden Rouse announced his commitment to the Vols. Rouse is a top 100 player in the country according to 247Sports, which will always be viewed as a huge pickup.
But On3's Chad Simmons shared an interesting report on Thursday after this commitment, indicating the Vols beat Georgia for this commitment.
"Bama wanted him, Michigan wanted him, Georgia wanted him, but [Tennessee] beat Texas in the end."@ChadSimmons_ says landing LB Brayden Rouse was a statement win for Josh Heupel & Tennessee recruiting 🍊
— Josh Newberg (@josh_newberg) July 10, 2025
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Tennessee claims to have beaten Georgia for 4-star LB
According to the above statment from Simmons, Tennessee was able to take down Alabama, Michigan, Texas and Georgia in Rouse's recruitment. That is a really strong batch of teams to beat for a recruit, but there is only one problem, and that is the fact that Georgia didn't appear to pursue Rouse that hard at all.
Rouse is from the state of Georgia and is the No. 4 linebacker in the country, so surely at some point Georgia contacted Rouse and attempted to recruit him. But this is a name Georgia fans haven't heard in a long time, and he didn't even take an official visit to Athens this June. So why is Georgia getting grouped with these other schools as having lost this recruitment?
It's unclear who exactly this sentiment is coming from, but it's unfortunate that Tennessee fans will now get to celebrate a win over Georgia when UGA did not appear to pursue Rouse on the recruiting trail that aggressively.
Maybe Tennessee fans should celebrate this "win over Georgia" because everyone knows they won't be doing much celebrating week three when Georgia heads to Knoxville. The Bulldogs have won eight straight games against Tennessee with all eight victories coming by at least 14 points. So it isn't surprising to see Vols fans grasp at whatever straw they can when it comes to their rivalry with Georgia.
At the end of the day this is a good win for Tennessee, nobody can deny that. But maybe next time they shouldn't act like they beat Georgia for a recruit when they didn't even bring him to Athens on an official visit.