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Tennessee football officially loses elite commit to Ohio State in blow for the Vols

The writing was on the wall here.
Braulio Perez
Braulio Perez

All for Tennessee

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel talks with an official during a college football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Oct. 18, 2025. / Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Unfortunately for the past few days, it felt like it was only a matter of time until this happened. The Tennessee football team was holding on with everything it had for 4-star wide receiver commit Legend Bey, but Ohio State was giving him a ton to think about.

5-star Tennessee commit silences flip rumors in big win for Josh Heupel

Moments ago, the news Tennessee fans were hoping wouldn't arrive did - Bey won't be Knoxville-bound after all. Hayes Fawcett just broke the news of Bey officially flipping his verbal pledge from the Vols to the Buckeyes. Bey took his official visit to Columbus for the Penn State game and that got the wheels in motion for Monday's major update:

Ohio State football has flipped 4-star Tennessee commit Legend Bey

Bey didn't mince words in that commitment post either, saying he's ready to be developed by the Ohio State coaches. This no question is a bit of a blow for Heupel and his 2026 recruiting class, as Bey has incredible speed and people were excited to see him catch balls from 5-star QB Faizon Brandon in the future.

That's not going to happen, as Bey will now be making things official with the Buckeyes in December during the Early Signing Period. Bey was expected to be a wideout for Tennessee, but thanks to his versatility, he'll be ready to line up at multiple spots for Ryan Day and his staff.

Despite Bey changing his mind, the Vols still have a loaded '26 class on the way. Some good news came in over the weekend too, with 5-star tackle Gabriel Osenda announcing he's locked in with UT and he's not going to commit to a different program.

Keeping Osenda on board will surely make some people forget about Bey deciding he wants to play in the Big Ten instead. We're not going to sugarcoat things, though, losing Bey sucks for Heupel and Tennessee. However, it was something we've seen coming for a few days and Heupel has some time to take a look at other targets high on his board as well.

Braulio Perez

Braulio Perez

Braulio Perez is an NCAA Content Director for FanSided, joining Minute Media in 2017 after 2.5 years at the Newark Star-Ledger as a high school sports reporter and 2.5 years at the Lynden Tribune as sports editor. While with the Lynden Tribune, Perez was named the Sports Writer of the Year in 2012 for his division by the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. At the Star-Ledger, he also assisted in coverage of college football recruiting. Perez's focus has been on college football recruiting, high school sports, the NFL, NCAA and English Premier League. He is also a regular contributor for 247Sports' Cougfan.com.