Less than a week after landing Alabama Crimson Tide transfer wide receiver Amari Jefferson, Tennessee landed an offensive lineman in its 2026 recruiting class out of the same high school in Chattanooga that Jefferson attended. Three-star Gabriel Osenda committed to the Vols on Saturday.
Both Jefferson and Osenda are products of Baylor School in Hamilton County, Tenn., and it’s worth noting Boo Carter hails from the area as well. With Osenda committing, Josh Heupel is doing a solid job trying to re-establish Tennessee’s presence in Chattanooga.
Of course, it wasn’t all roses for the Vols Saturday, as wide receiver Cameron Sparks, also of Baylor School and a 247Sports Composite four-star, committed to the Virginia Tech Hokies, but getting Jefferson back from Bama offsets that to a degree.
With so many offensive linemen about to leave, Heupel seems to be getting more serious about building that unit’s future using recruits out of high school. Five-star David Sanders Jr. in the 2025 class is obviously part of that, and two of UT’s 2026 commitments are lineman.
Despite his three-star rating, Osenda is actually a four-star on Rivals and is a great size at 6’7″ 330 pounds. Initially from Canada, he had offers from the Florida Gators, Alabama Crimson Tide and Kentucky Wildcats, so it’s likely his rating is about how raw he is, not his potential.
Simply put, Osenda appears to be a highly underrated recruit, as he also fielded offers from the Georgia Bulldogs and the Ole Miss Rebels. With another year of high school ball left, he could easily see his rating bump, and as a project, he would need to develop in Heupel’s and Glen Elarbee’s system anyway.
Currently, the Vols have the No. 5 ranked 247Sports Composite recruiting class in 2026, and it’s second in the SEC to the Texas A&M Aggies. It’s still very early in the process, though, so they have a lot of work to do to properly fill out the class, but Osenda is a great addition to that.
