There is no sugar coating this one. This hurts. Tennessee has done a nice job on the recruiting trail so far, but the Vols have just lost out on a top target. Jason Witten, a former Tennessee tight end and football legend, was just hired to become the tight ends coach at Oklahoma. With this, his son, Cooper, a highly coveted five-star recruit in the class of 2027, started trending away from the Vols, and he has now officially committed to Oklahoma.
Witten is currently rated as the No. 25 player in the country for the class of 2027, and he's the No. 2 linebacker according to the 247Sports composite. This is a big miss for Heupel. It felt like for a long time Tennessee was the frontrunner in the Witten recruitment, then Jasopn got hired by the Sooners, and everything started to derail. Tennessee can try to flip him, but with his father on staff at Oklahoma, that seems like a long shot.
BREAKING: Elite 2027 LB Cooper Witten has Committed to Oklahoma, he tells me for @Rivals
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) March 3, 2026
The 6’2 215 LB from Argyle, TX chose the Sooners over Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Georgia
He’s the son of 11-time Pro Bowler and Oklahoma TE Coach Jason Wittenhttps://t.co/rdVVkDZfoo pic.twitter.com/HjNAT251qv
Where should Tennessee pivot after losing out on Cooper Witten?
The good news is it's still extremely early in the 2027 recruiting cycle, so there are still a lot of options available that are quality candidates. Another good thing, too, is the fact that the Vols signed TJ White and Brayden Rouse, two of the best linebackers in last year's class. Plus, in 2027, they have JP Peace already committed, who is a linebacker with a strong offer sheet.
Given all of this, losing out on Witten still stings and will continue to haunt the Vols as his career moves forward. Tennessee could have avoided this if they had brought Jason onto the staff something fans have long wanted. Clearly, though, it didn’t align with Heupel’s vision for the team. He’s had plenty of opportunities to add Witten, and hasn’t, which makes it obvious he doesn’t see him as part of his coaching staff.
For now, we will just have to hope Tennessee can find another solid replacement which they are more than capable of doing, but losing leagcy recruits to conference foes just never feels good,