Plenty of people saw this coming earlier this week, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it's a bit disappointing for Tennessee football and recruiting fans. Moments ago, 5-star offensive lineman Darius Gray announced his commitment and he picked South Carolina. This came after 5-star target Savion Hiter committed to Michigan on Tuesday.
When Steve Wiltfong put in his official prediction for the Gamecocks to land Gray, it felt like any chance was lost for Tennessee, even if Gray had given Vols fans everywhere a glimmer of hope thanks to a recent social media post. In the end, though, Shane Beamer and Co. went all-in for Gray and he gave South Carolina the news it wanted.
5-star OL Darius Gray has committed to South Carolina over Tennessee and others
While this is a bit of a bummer, the Tennessee faithful can rest easy knowing that Josh Heupel was able to land a bit of a haymaker on South Carolina on Thursday. In case you missed it, in-state 4-star offensive tackle Kamari Blair flipped his verbal from USC to the Vols.
It was no question a major get for Tennessee. This summer, Blair surprised a lot of people when he spurned Tennessee for South Carolina, with people upset that Heupel let a top target leave the state to play for the Gamecocks. Thankfully, Blair had a change of heart.
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As for Gray, he's ranked five stars and the No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the country by 247Sports. His finalists were Tennessee, South Carolina, Ohio State, Clemson and LSU. For a little while, it seemed like this was a two-team battle between LSU and South Carolina.
Moving forward, Heupel and the Vols will switch their focus to other linemen high on their board to close out the '26 class. Losing out on Gray doesn't take away from the fact that Tennessee holds one of the top 2026 groups in the SEC for this cycle - on to the next one.