Tennessee working hard to flip four-star Oregon TE commit

One of the things that has always been intriguing about following college football recruiting is that a verbal commitment didn't always mean that a player was locked up for good.

In fact, oftentimes, when a recruit committed to one school, it just caused the competition to work even harder to flip said recruit. That was especially true when "School B" knew that it was close to winning the recruit over, and now that the player had made a commitment, most all other recruiters were going to back off.

That's led to some big flips over the years, but now in the transfer portal era, the pressure is always on for schools to keep their top recruits.

Speaking of, Oregon finds itself in somewhat of a jam regarding 4-star tight end commitment Da'Saahn Brame from Derby Kansas. Brame committed to the Ducks in late June, but less than a month later, Steve Wiltfong of On3 is reporting that Tennessee has recruited the tight end all the more after his commitment to Dan Lanning and co.

In fact, it's starting to seem like Brame may end up with the Volunteers.

“A new forecast we have in favor of Tennessee is for the Vols to ultimately flip the nation’s No. 4 tight end DaSaahn Brame from Oregon,” Wiltfong recently wrote. “Position coach Alec Abeln has stayed relentless in recruiting Brame. … Tennessee lost a back and forth with the Ducks at the end of June but are trending again behind the scenes for the Derby (Kan.) High blue-chipper.”

Abeln has been the primary recruiter for a few big-time commitments so far from Tennessee. One is another 2025 four-star tight end, Jack Van Dorselaer. Abeln brought him in despite heavy interest from TCU, Michigan, Alabama, Baylor, USC, Texas and Miami, so he's no stranger to big-time recruiting battles.

If Abeln's presence isn't enough for the Vols, Brame also recently spoke highly of Tennessee's head coach, Josh Huepel.

“I like how much he cares for his players,” Brame said of Heupel after his official visit to Tennessee. “I sat down with some of the tight ends and they were talking about how much he cares and how he reaches out to their parents and lets them know how they’re doing.”

If the Vols can flip, Brame, he'll go down as a massive recruiting win.

At 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, he's ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the 2025 class, per 247Sports. He caught 46 passes for 942 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior at Derby High School.