Tennessee Vols expected to lose 4-star in-state recruit to Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss

It looks like the Tennessee Vols are going to miss out on a key 2025 in-state four-star recruit.

2025 four-star running back Shekai Mills-Knight, 6-foot-1/217 lbs from Chattanooga, TN, appears poised to land with Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels.

Mills-Knight, who is rated in 247Sports' composite rankings as the No. 9 player in the state of Tennessee, is "trending heavily" to Ole Miss according to On3 .

The four-star recruit took an official visit to Tennessee in June. The Vols are hoping to add another running back to their 2025 recruiting class and Mills-Knight would seemingly be a great fit for Tennessee. But it's the Rebels that are likely going to win the battle for Mills-Knight.

While it's certainly tough to lose one of the top players in the state to Ole Miss (if that's indeed how this recruiting battle ends up playing out), this is a bit of a unique situation where Mills-Knight's status as an in-state player actually isn't all that relevant.

That's because Mills-Knight is originally from Montreal. He didn't arrive at Baylor School in Chattanooga until until last summer (ahead of his junior season). So it's not like he grew up in Tennessee surrounded by Power T logos.

This was more like a national recruitment for the Vols. And it just happened to go in favor of Ole Miss (we think). That's going to happen in recruiting from time to time. You can't win them all. The good news for the Vols is that the program is on fire on the recruiting trail lately, currently sitting with the No. 5 2025 recruiting class in the nation.

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