Josh Heupel gets a big win over Kirby Smart, as the Tennessee football head coach was able to flip four-star defensive lineman Tyre West away from the Georgia football team on Early Signing Day.
Flips happen on National Signing Day, but Josh Heupel just got a big win for his Tennessee football program by getting four-star defensive lineman Tyre West to spurn Kirby Smart’s Georgia football team and switch SEC East allegiances.
West had long been committed to Georgia, but the four-star from Tifton, Georgia flipped to Tennessee on Early Signing Day. He had made official visits to Florida State and Tennessee during the first two weekends of December. Expected to be an early enrollee, West is the latest addition to Heupel’s impressive 2022 class at Tennessee. This signing may help close the gap on Georgia.
It is still early in Heupel’s Knoxville tenure, but he and his staff are making the smart decisions on the recruiting trail necessary to play with the big dogs in the SEC landscape.
Tennessee football gets longtime Georgia commit Tyre West to flip on NSD
According to the 247Sports Composite, West is the No. 111 player nationally, the No. 20 defensive lineman in his class and the No. 12 overall player from Georgia. While it is not shocking that he decommitted from Georgia, it is to some degree that West flipped from Georgia to Tennessee and not to Florida State. Tifton is in South Georgia and infinitely closer to Tallahassee than to Knoxville.
Ultimately, this is a prime example of the type of recruiting battles an up-and-coming program like Tennessee has to win. If the Vols can poach top-flight talent from a division rival’s state, then more power to them. Holding off another improving program in Florida State for a player like West’s commitment is a big victory in its own right. Heupel has Tennessee on the come-up.
It will take some time to rebuild in Knoxville, but Heupel seems like the right man for the job.
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