Safety Jowell Combay commits to Tennessee football, following teammate to Vols
On July 9, Combay made his announcement alongside coaches and teammates at Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia. A day earlier, Kell four-star linebacker Brayden Rouse also pledged to the Vols.
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Combay is a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder. He is ranked the No. 49 safety and No. 635 prospect overall in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports Composite.
Combay chose Tennessee over South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and Wisconsin. He drew scholarship offers from more than 30 FBS schools, including 10 in the SEC.
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Here are Tennessee football commitments in 2026 class
Combay is Tennessee's 11th commitment since June 27.
UT now has 20 commitments in the 2026 recruiting class, led by five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon.
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Rouse, defensive lineman Dereon Albert, edge rusher Zach Groves, wide receiver Tyreek King, offensive tackle Gabriel Osenda, tight end Carson Sneed and linebacker TJ White committed to the Vols. They are rated four stars by 247Sports Composite.
The class also includes cornerback Zay Anderson, offensive lineman Edward Baker, athlete Legend Bey, edge rusher CJ Edwards, edge rusher Kedric Golston, safety KJ McClain, linebacker Braylon Outlaw, defensive lineman Darryl Rivers, athlete Javonte Smith, cornerback Jamyan Theodore and safety Luke Thompson. They are rated three stars.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Safety Jowell Combay commits to Tennessee football, following teammate in 2026 class
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New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Auburn, Oklahoma among Power 4 programs playing catch-up in recruiting
There will be some high-profile recruits who make decisions in the coming weeks as their senior seasons approach, and of course, there will be flips as we get closer to the early signing period. But now that we've moved past June and the July Fourth commitment wave, we have a pretty good idea of where each program stands in the 2026 recruiting cycle. Advertisement Programs like Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Texas A&M and others have had strong summers. But today, we're focusing on the teams that have been less fortunate over the past few weeks. Let's examine which programs still have much to do to reach their standards. (Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.) The Tigers have signed top-10 classes each of the past two recruiting cycles. For the most part, coach Hugh Freeze has made good on the unofficial mandate he received when he was hired: Get Auburn's recruiting back to where it needs to be. His 'worst' class ranked 18th back in the 2023 cycle, and he had just weeks to really build that one. So it's pretty staggering to look at the 2026 team rankings and see Auburn in the 70s, hovering around Oregon State and Toledo. The Tigers hold just eight commitments, which is a factor in the lower ranking. A majority of the programs in the top 25 have at least 15 commitments in their class. But Auburn has to play catch-up elsewhere, too. Only three of the Tigers' eight commitments are blue-chip prospects. Their average player rating is 89.16, which is not horrible but not where a program needs to be to compete at a high level in the SEC. Auburn's average player rating was 91.57 in 2025 and 92.10 in 2024. The Tigers did flip four-star quarterback Peyton Falzone from Penn State in late June and landed four-star linebacker Adam Balogoun-Ali, but that's the only real splash they've made. They've also had three blue-chip commits flip to other programs in recent weeks. Freeze and Auburn athletic director John Cohen addressed recruiting, House settlement interpretations and roster-building methods with reporters last week. Freeze alluded to Auburn needing to pay to retain players on the current roster, which impacts how much they'll spend recruiting. Advertisement Cohen mentioned Aug. 1 as a critical date. 'Aug. 1 is the first day a prospective student-athlete can receive (a financial) offer on paper,' Cohen said. 'That's a big day. It's not a rumor. It's not innuendo. It's not this person said this. It's an offer on paper. We're a good distance away from Aug. 1st and a really good distance away from December.' We'll know where Freeze stands in December. He's just 11-14 through two seasons as Auburn's coach and needs to dramatically improve to cast aside doubts about his future with the Tigers. That uncertainty likely hasn't helped on the recruiting trail either. Another situation where a coach's future with the program is far from certain. Brent Pry is just 16-21 in three seasons as the Hokies' coach, and Virginia Tech underwhelmed when it had pretty high expectations in 2024. So, Pry badly needs wins. It's going to be difficult to achieve recruiting at this rate. Pry's first four classes were all ranked somewhere between 35th and 45th nationally. The Hokies landed a commitment from homegrown four-star offensive lineman Thomas Wilder, which was a good step. But Wilder is the only blue-chip pledge in Virginia Tech's class. He's the only commitment the Hokies have ranked in the top 500. Virginia Tech's average player rating is just 86.24 ahead of only Wake Forest, NC State and Virginia in the ACC. The Hokies have received just nine verbal pledges this cycle, which is another contributing factor to the low ranking. Virginia is the only program in the ACC within that range with just 11 commitments. Everyone else in the league has at least 15 commits. 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Advertisement Missouri has commitments from just four blue-chip prospects right now, so it's off the pace from its recent efforts. The Tigers' class currently is only 10 members deep. South Carolina owns the same total, but it has seven blue-chip commits. It's not that Missouri hasn't been active recently. It's picked up eight commitments since June. But the Tigers started from such a low point (only two commits entering the summer), they have quite the hole to dig out of. We'll see where they eventually land. With roster limits set at 105 players now, the Cornhuskers have to keep this class relatively small in order to meet the threshold in future years. They're at 126, including players who would have been cut if the roster size was strictly enforced, per The Athletic's Mitch Sherman. Nebraska has 12 commitments presently. That would be fine, but with a small class, a program's margin for error dwindles. The fewer players, the more the misses hurt. Of the Cornhuskers' 12 commitments, nine are ranked outside the top 500. So Nebraska's fan base must trust coach Matt Rhule's evaluations and development because it will have to turn prospects who might be longer-term projects into real contributors. The Cornhuskers' average player rating is just 88.00. Without more high-end talent in the class, the program must walk a thin line to produce winners. The Gamecocks are here mainly because of volume. South Carolina has missed on recruiting targets, but its average player rating is still 91.18. The issue is that the Gamecocks have just 10 commitments. As noted earlier, seven of those prospects are blue-chippers, including two in the top 100. South Carolina has genuine momentum as a program coming off a nine-win season, and expectations are high this year with star quarterback LaNorris Sellers. So it would've been logical to assume the Gamecocks would be higher in team rankings, but we'll see when/if they can make the jump this cycle. 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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
SEC quarterback rankings: Arch Manning headlines loaded list
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ranking QBs the Chiefs will play in 2025: Kansas City should benefit from this matchup coming late in the season
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