In-state four-star tight end Carson Sneed has been committed to Tennessee football since August 5, 2024.

That hasn't meant his recruitment is shut down at all, though.

Sneed took a round of official visits, including a stop in Knoxville, this summer and is hearing consistently from Florida. Now, at Rivals Five Star, he is sporting Gator gloves.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

When he checked into Rivals Five Star, Sneed caught up with Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney to give an update on his recruitment.

He started by explaining what is appealing about Tennessee and why he's verbally committed to UT in the first place.

"Being an in-state kid, them being so close to home, if I can, I wanted the chance to play at home," Sneed said. "That's really what keeps them pretty close."

While Josh Heupel hasn't used tight ends to an extreme extent at times, he does have a track record of getting them the ball.

He's been in the ear of Sneed giving him comparisons to Missouri tight end Albert Okwuegbunam who Heupel coached with the Tigers.

"Coach Heupel, he's just been telling about how he's had previous tight ends, not really in this offense, cause he hasn't really had the body types he's had at the old staffs at Missouri and all that," Sneed said. "They had Albert (Okwuegbunam) and people like that. They think I can be the next Albert O. Be a freshman All-American, go to the NFL, play a couple years. That's what they've been telling me."

For Florida, it's been a consistent buzz in his ear ever since he committed.

Sneed was able to get down to Gainesville recently and liked how Billy Napier and the staff recruits him and his family. Seeing how he'd be featured in the offense is also a positive.

"They've really been coming after me in all ways," Sneed said. "They've been recruiting me, also been recruiting my parents. They got me down there as fast as they could. That was a great visit. They got a really good message for me, they really want me to be their tight end. They want to get me the ball. I like that a lot."

Sneed isn't worried about previous shortcomings by the Gators, either. Although the Napier tenure has been far from stable and last year was on the brink of being another disaster before DJ Lagway emerged at quarterback, Sneed is looking at the positive.

When he looks at last year's results, he saw a nine-win team that had some breaks go against them.

"You kind of got to look at their schedule last year, they probably should have won nine games," Sneed said. "Some injuries hurt them. Most of the games they lost, they lost by one possession, two possessions and that's with injuries. Gators are hot right now on the recruiting trail. If I happen to hop in, I don't know if I will, if I happen to, I'd be a pretty good addition to them."

Along with Tennessee and Florida, Ole Miss and North Carolina have also consistently been after him. He currently does not have an exact date for his final decision, but he did say it'll probably be 'in the next couple weeks.'

The Vols currently hold just nine commitments in the 2026 class. This is good for the No. 34 group in the country to this point.

The group is headlined by five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon who is the top signal caller in the cycle and No. 2 overall player.

Tyreek King is knocking on the door of five-star status, but currently sits as a highly-ranked four-star.

Other four-stars committed to this point are Sneed, offensive lineman Gabriel Osenda and edge rusher Zach Groves.

Three-stars in the boat are edge rusher CJ Edwards, linebacker Braylon Outlaw and safety KJ McClain. On Saturday morning, unranked athlete Luke Thompson joined, as well.

In 2027, Tennessee just landed the commitment of three-star local linebacker JP Peace.

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