Josh Heupel’s recruiting class took a big hit three days before the early signing period begins as the Vols lost elite 2025 defensive back Lagonza Hayward. Despite committing to the Vols back in July and announcing on X less than three weeks ago that he was not flipping, the Georgia prospect announced his decommitment on the same platform Sunday.
Of course, this is devastating for the Vols, as Hayward, who is a 6’1″ 200-pound safety and a four-star across the board out of Toombs County High School in Lyons, Ga., which is in the southeastern portion of the state, was one of the highest-rated players in their class. Without him, UT’s 2025 class dropped to 24 players and fell from No. 7 to No. 9 in the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Beyond the devastation, though, Hayward’s decommitment makes no sense. For a while, UT fans were worried about David Sanders Jr. flipping to the Ohio State Buckeyes, but the five-star offensive lineman hasn’t made any moves, and OSU’s loss to the Michigan Wolverines should help Heupel with him.
Hayward, meanwhile, is now favored to commit to the Florida Gators. The Georgia Bulldogs are also in play. If Hayward was going to flip from Tennessee to Georgia, though, why would he wait until two Saturdays after the Dawgs beat the Vols in Athens and not immediately after that?
Sticking with Florida, though, it seems as if the Gators’ strong finish to the season, which is remarkable for Billy Napier and co., was enticing to him, and he is from near the Florida-Georgia line. However, Florida still finished 7-5 and has major issues, while UT is headed to the College Football Playoff and looks great in the secondary.
One potential explanation is NIL, but that doesn’t make sense for two reasons. First, Hayward was one of the top players in Tennessee’s class, so they would have opened up the checkbook for him and not been outbid by somebody else. Also, nobody would flip from Tennessee to Florida over that given the Jaden Rashada issue last year.
The Vols could be the ones pushing him out because they may think they’re getting somebody better, but that would only be in the transfer portal, as it’s too close to Early Signing Day for them to get a recruit like that, and it’s risky to bank on the portal. Why not take the developmental guy given the talent you already have?
One final possibility is that he could know Tim Banks is leaving. Banks is the hottest coaching commodity in the nation among defensive coordinators this year, and he and Willie Martinez, who is on a one-year contract, were the ones to recruit Hayward. That, unfortunately, is the most realistic case for Tennessee.
Still, all of this is speculation, and the Vols didn’t lose their positioning in SEC recruiting rankings with this loss, so as long as they can hold onto Sanders, they will still have an elite class. There are many things happening within the program, though, that are about to explode with the end of the regular season having arrived.
