Stop the Portal Talk: Tennessee in the end for 2027 star Jeffries.....Stunner

It was a full news day in volleyball with Texas A+M still celebrating the Natty and some primetime names making moves in the portal.  So plenty to talk about in the sport to fill up our day, we will leave our Prep Coverage alone for a minute because there is nothing that important it can't wait a day or so WHAT THE HE.......Honestly, the biggest recruiting stunner of the 2027 Class, California superstar, and let us emphasize the SUPER, Eva Jeffries, just slid in her verbal commitment this afternoon, and the Silver Level Prospect dropped news that rocked our world anyway.

Jeffries announced she will attend Tennessee and play in the SEC.  The commitment has to be a huge lift for a Volunteer program that has nothing but cloudy recruiting news the past few months.  After a promising Select Camp in which several of our Top 100 2027 prospects attended, we picked Tennessee as a "Programs with some Heat" heading into June's signing period, but the Volunteers struggled and only had one verbal commit, and that came late. Word was they missed on several targets early.  Then the portal period didn't start well, at least from a PR standpoint, with five athletes leaving the Tennessee program within the first couple of days of the December window.  So Jeffries' commitment washes all of that away and brings a positive tone and a start to 2026 for the program.

We had been very open about our pursuit to learn more about the smooth OH, who seems to have a potential for greatness at the next level, and to genuinely get a feel for what she might be thinking about her college plans. Still, we never really got that sense of an excellent fit for Jeffries.  But, we do know the pursuit was there, and names like USC, Oregon, and Indiana had been in the mix, and up until late, it felt like Indiana could have been the Cinderella Story for Jeffries and a culture fit with what is being assembled in Bloomington.  Early on, there had even been mentions of Texas and nearly every Big Ten school not named Nebraska; it seemed so. Jeffries has definitely put in the time and should have an excellent chance to come in early at Tennessee and contribute.

This may be the recruiting W of the class award right now, and it stopped the presses for a couple of hours anyway.  The potential and upside are incredibly high on this one, and she was a class favorite from the first time we saw her in a gym, but her PPV score chart fluctuates unlike possibly any athlete we have seen in our four years.  Congrats, Vol Nation and Vol Staff, and Congrats Eva.....now back to that Transfer Portal thing we were talking about.