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Will Tennessee be able to hold onto Carson Sneed?

On3 imageby: Austin Price05/29/25AustinPriceless
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The big question amongst committed players has been about tight end Carson Sneed. Will Tennessee be able to hold on him? He was in Knoxville last weekend and says he still feels like things are trending in a good direction.

“I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m completely open-minded. But, obviously, this is still home to me,” Sneed said. “I haven’t decommitted or anything like that because I love it here, and I don’t want to ruin any relationships. Hopefully things go as they go and (I will) stay here. I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s going to happen, though, if I had to guess.”

Sneed will visit Ole Miss this weekend. He still has a Florida visit scheduled as well before coming back to town for his official visit on June 20th.

“For me, it’s more just, like, clarity and making sure I made the right decision because it’s a big-time decision to make at 16 years old,” Sneed said. “It’s a life-changing decision, so I want to do that.”

In town for the 865 Live event, Sneed enjoyed chopping it up with his fellow recruits.

“It was great. It was cool,” Sneed said. “It was fun to catch up. We really should’ve won (the team competition) and came in second. I thought we won. But it was great. I enjoyed seeing everybody.

“A little recruiting went on down there — a little player-to-player recruiting. Hopefully it worked.”

So what was his pitch to players like Savion Hiter and 2027 wide receiver Kesean Bowman?

“Constantly in the SEC race, constantly in the College Football Playoff race,” Sneed said. “Playing with All-Americans, putting up all the statistical things. So I don’t know who wouldn’t really want to come down here and play. That’s what I try and tell them.”

The visit to Oxford and potentially Gainesville isn’t ideal because those schools will have his ear for a weekend. His relationships with Alec Abeln and others on Rocky Top though will be tough to beat.

“I’m just going to see some schools,” Sneed said. “Really, what I’m looking for in a school is, obviously, no coach, I’m closest with Coach Abeln. I don’t think I’ll ever be closer with a tight end coach like that.

“But I’m looking for a lot of tight-end production, where a lot of tight ends they’ve put in the NFL the last couple years. So those are some of the main things I’m looking for.”

And while Tennessee would probably rather him not take visits, Sneed says Abeln has been good about it.

“Really, what I told Coach Abeln and he understood but I committed pretty early, and I just wanted to make sure, because I didn’t really get to see so much of the country with my brother being here,” Sneed said. “But I just wanted to make sure I made the right decision, and I told Coach Abeln that straight-up. I didn’t hide it from him. …

“I told him and he was OK with it. As long as it went through him, he was cool with it.”

Sneed’s older brother Dayton transferred from Tennessee to North Carolina back in the winter. He took a one day official visit to Chapel Hill earlier this month,

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