The Vols revealed his top five college selections in a SEC teams.
One of the Vols’ top in-state targets in the 2026 class is a four-star tight end, and Tennessee is the clear favorite to land him.
After his most recent visit to Tennessee, which was less than two days ago, Carson Sneed disclosed that he had reduced his attention to a select few colleges. The Vols are one of three SEC teams on the four-star Class of 2026 tight end from Nashville, Tennessee’s Donelson Christian Academy, who revealed his top five college selections in a post on his X account on Monday afternoon.
The front-runners for the 6-foot-5.5, 235-pound Sneed include Louisville, Ohio State, Auburn, and Ole Miss. Sneed returned to the Vols on Saturday to take part in their Night at Neyland camp. At least 36 colleges have offered him scholarships, including all five of the universities he is seriously considering.
Sneed, the younger brother of Tennessee wide receiver Dayton Sneed, is regarded as a four-star recruit by the industry-created 247Sports Composite, which ranks him as the No. 3 rising junior from Tennessee, the No. 172 overall player, and the No. 8 tight end in the 2026 class. The younger Sneed is a three-star prospect who is rated as the No. 8 rising junior from Tennessee and the No. 12 tight end in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports.
Three days after Vanderbilt made Sneed his first SEC offer, Tennessee made him an early offer in March 2023. He received the offer from the Vols on a visit during one of their junior seasons, and he has since made multiple trips back to Knoxville, Tennessee, to see his brother play.
Along with attending at least four of the Vols’ home games last season, he also attended one of their camps. On February 3, he came back to Knoxville for Tennessee’s first junior day of the season. On Saturday, the Vols had another opportunity to work with him on the field as part of their camp inside Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee is a state that Sneed grew up loving, and the Vols have been among the top teams vying for him for over a year. After visiting a junior day at Tennessee in February, he stated that Alec Abeln, the tight ends coach, and the rest of the staff under Vols coach Josh Heupel had continued to “make sure that I know I’m a priority and that they want me, for sure.”
Despite having seen many games at Neyland Stadium, Sneed said he appreciated seeing a taste of what it may be like to play there at Saturday’s practice. While he was there, Heupel’s staff gave him a lot of attention.
Sneed said, “It was very different,” on Saturday night. “It was excellent. I saw everything and saw it firsthand from the field.”
He declared on Sunday that he “more than likely” won’t make his college choice public until later in the year. But as he starts to work toward a commitment, he now intends to concentrate mostly on the five colleges that made his list of preferences.
“Really, what I’m looking for this fall — not just from Tennessee, but from every school that’s recruiting me — is how they use the tight ends, how they use their offense,” Sneed stated. “That’s one of the big things for me.”
