David Gabriel Georges committed to Tennessee on July 22, 2026. He announced the pledge Wednesday evening, choosing the Vols over Ohio State and Ole Miss after official visits with each school this spring, per ESPN.
The five-star running back is the No. 10 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite, and he ran for 1,756 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2025. Per ESPN, the decision closed a monthslong recruiting battle between Tennessee and Ohio State, and it gave the Vols their eighteenth commitment in the 2027 class.
The class is at zero, and the board is empty
This is the outcome we named on July 6, when we wrote that the decision would make or break the running back class. Ohio State has no running back committed in the 2027 class, and with Georges gone it has no running back target either. Those are two different problems and the second one is worse.
Running backs coach Carlos Locklyn recruited Georges harder than any player on the board, per Eleven Warriors. The fallback thinned out in June: Jayden Miles committed to Florida State one day after taking his Ohio State official visit. The path from here, as Eleven Warriors framed it before the decision, is a flip attempt, at a premium position, in the back half of the summer. That is not where anyone wants to be.
What it does and does not change
It does not undo the class. Ohio State’s 2027 group is still built on six offensive linemen, the first six-lineman class since 2020, and a defensive line that per Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope is one of only two in the country with two five-star linemen and one of only two with three top-100 linemen. DJ Jacobs, the No. 4 player in the country when this ran, is still the headliner.
What it changes is the shape. A class with no back is a class with a hole its rivals will point at, and the rankings notice: Ohio State was No. 7 nationally on On3 in the July 7 snapshot and No. 11 on ESPN before today, and both of those numbers were set without a running back in the class.
What is still open
Two decisions landed before this one, and they cut in opposite directions. Karlos May committed to Ohio State on July 18, which gave the class its defensive tackle. Monshun Sales did not: he chose Indiana on July 17. That leaves two names on the board, both flip targets, Benny Easter Jr. at receiver and Gabriel Osborne Jr. at cornerback. The class still has no tight end and no tight end target, and after tonight no running back target either.
The full class, every rank sourced to the outlet that reported it, is on the 2027 commit board. What the class still needs is on the needs page.
