4-star LB who just decommitted from SEC rival visiting Tennessee this week

It’s shaping up to be a massive recruiting weekend for Tennessee football and Josh Heupel. The list of prospects/transfer targets who will be in town continues to grow. On Thursday, Notre Dame transfer Sam Pindleton will be in Knoxville.

Then come this weekend, there’s another name for UT supporters to keep a close eye on. That’d be four-star linebacker Rodney Colton Jr. Colton was previously committed to South Carolina, but he backed off his pledge. After that, Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman has reported that Colton will be making a return trip to Knoxville for another unofficial visit:

South Carolina decommit Rodney Colton will visit Tennessee this weekend

A Newman, Ga., product, the 6-1, 220-pounder is one of the top prospects coming out of Georgia for his class. He’s ranked four stars, the No. 11 LB in the country and No. 161 player overall according to the 247Sports Composite. This kid is a true playmaker.

Throughout his recruitment, Colton has picked up scholarships from Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee and others. Back on April 24, Colton shut down his recruitment and gave Shane Beamer the news he was hoping for

However, after a little under nine months of being USC-bound, Colton opened up his recruitment. Even after committing to the Gamecocks in the spring, he continued to pick up interest from other schools and took a visit to Tennessee in the fall.

Now that he’s wide open as a recruit again, Heupel, Tim Banks and the rest of his defensive coaches are going to work to impress the youngster, especially when he’s back on campus in the near future. Tennessee is working to close out its 2025 haul via the transfer portal, but the hard work continues for ’26, which is of course headlined by QB Faizon Brandon, the No. 1 player in the nation.