Things have taken quite a turn in Knoxville since the Tennessee baseball team started its conference schedule.
While the Volunteers still have a decent overall record at 31-17, their 11-13 performance against SEC opponents has been far from ideal, and because of it, a lot of fans are ready to move on from head coach Josh Elander, despite it only being his first year with the program.
Now, the season isn't what Tennessee wanted, clearly, but it isn't time to throw in the towel on the Vols' head coach quite yet.
Perfect Game released its latest player rankings of prospects in the class of 2026, and the Volunteers' group of recruits is one of the best in the nation.
College baseball class of 2026 team rankings
- Vanderbilt Commodores
- LSU Tigers
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Texas Longhorns
- Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Wake Forest Demon Deacons
- Auburn Tigers
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Virginia Cavaliers
- Oklahoma Sooners
The Volunteers' class of 2026 ranks third in the nation, giving Elander an extremely promising roster for the next year or so.
In other words, while this season might be a wash, fans should start getting extremely excited for what's to come in Knoxville.
New 2026 Player Rankings brings fresh Class of 2026 College Recruiting Rankings!@VandyBoys breaks a tie with @LSUbaseball for the #1 spot with the most Top 100 recruits in the class with 12! https://t.co/qNHHQHao6Z pic.twitter.com/MjCvi71IAu
— Perfect Game USA (@PerfectGameUSA) May 5, 2026
Unsurprisingly, the top-10 of Perfect Games' rankings is almost entirely teams from the SEC, so the in-conference competition isn't going to go away anytime soon. However, the Vols are about to be set up for a significant improvement.
Also read: SEC Softball Tournament sets up Tennessee to erase any doubt from midseason struggles
Florida, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Alabama are the other SEC programs in the top 25, giving the conference 13 of those spots, with all five of the top five coming from the SEC.
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