Tennessee lands 2026 commitment from DB out of New Jersey
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Tennessee has picked up a new piece for its 2026 recruiting class.
KJ McClain has decided to take his talents to Knoxville. The defensive back out of New Jersey announced his commitment to Tennessee on Wednesday.
Out of Montvale (New Jersey) St. Joseph Regional High School, McClain is listed as measuring over 5-11 and 160 pounds. On the 247Sports Composite, McClain is rated 3-stars, the No. 10 player in New Jersey, No. 47 safety and No. 607 prospect overall in the Class of 2026.
McClain collected 19 scholarship offers during his recruitment. Boston College, Duke, Maryland, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse and Texas A&M were among the other programs to show interest. McClain pointed to Josh Heupel as the leading reason he chose the Volunteers.
I like that Coach Heupel cares about his guys, and I know that because you ask guys on the team and they said nothing but great things bout him,” McClain told Austin Price of On3. “I also like that he was always around on my visit. You saw him everywhere and he was always around the families/recruits and that’s important to me because I’m a family guy.
With McClain on board, UT now has 9 verbal commitments in its 2026 recruiting class, which currently ranks No. 35 nationally on the Composite. Fans can get a preview of what McClain brings to Rocky Top by checking out his highlights in the Hudl video below:
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
