2026 LB Brayden Rouse Officially Signs With Tennessee Football

Brayden Rouse has officially signed with the Tennessee Volunteers during the Early Signing Day timeline.

Brayden Rouse’s commitment photo | Drevion Kilgore (@createwithdre)

The early signing period for the class of 2026 is finally here. Prospects from all over the country will be signing and sending in their official Letter of Intent (LOI) to play for their selected college of choice, with most of the athletes staying with teh schools that they have been committed to for quite some time.

There will also be those to create huge headlines and waves of game-changing decisions, as it is almost a yearly thing to expect some crazy early signing day news.

The Josh Heupel-led Tennessee Volunteers are expected to sign a minimum of around 23 players. Entering the final week before Early Signing Day, the Vols held 23 commitments, but they plan to attempt to flip some prospects, while there is also a chance that they can leave today, adding some uncommitted players as well. The best part of the day for the Vols has been the fact that some of these commits can finally solidify their decision to play for the Orange and White.

The Tennessee Vols have officially signed 2026 Kell (GA) LB Brayden Rouse. Rouse will be joining a lengthy list of talented linebackers and will have the chance to learn from some older guys in the system. Some of the guys, like Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander, can take a guy like Rouse under their wing. Similar to the way that they have done with some other backers, such as Jadon Perlotte, Jaedon Harmon, and Edwin Spillman.

BIO

Brayden Rouse after committing to Tennessee | Caleb Sisk

Name: Brayden Rouse

School: Kell High School (Marietta, Georgia)

Position: Linebacker

Measurements: 6'3, 205-Pounds

Star Rating: Four-Star

Tennessee Recruiting History

Brayden Rouse warming up prior to South Paulding game 2025 | Dale Dowden - Vols on SI

Offer: August 16th, 2024

Official Visit Date: June 20th, 2025

Commitment Date: July 8th, 2025

The Tennessee Volunteers made Rouse a priority. They made sure there was no way they would miss on Rouse considering he was on campus multiple times, and he loved everything Knoxvill had to offer. Rouse visiting Tennessee as many times as he did allowed the vols to give him all information that they could.

For most of the recruitment, Tennessee seemed to be the team to beat, but for a guy like Rouse, there will always be competition. After he committed, things naturally shut down, and the Vols have now officially signed one of the better linebackers in the class.

What's next for Rouse? Back in July he set the bar high for his expectations.

"Feels great, I feel like deep down I always knew that it was Tennessee. I mean every time that I went there it felt like home, felt like what made it so hard why I shouldn't make it (commit) to Tennessee, and I didn't find a reason, and now that it is over it feels good, it's a long process and all that, but this is the spot for me I'm ready to go grind it out with these boys and win a National Championship!"

---