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Eli Lederman
Tennessee‘s first dedication within the class of 2027 arrived on Monday with a well-known household tie when linebacker prospect JP Peace, grandson of nationwide champion head coach and former Vols athletic director Phillip Fulmer, introduced his dedication to this system.
Peace, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound defender from Knoxville (Tennessee) West Excessive Faculty, is the primary member of coach Josh Heupel’s 2027 class. Not at present ranked by ESPN, Peace earned a scholarship provide from Tennessee on Could 12 and held gives from Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt previous to his dedication, which Peace introduced on social media.
“Naturally, Tennessee was the main faculty for him,” his father Robert, who performed linebacker underneath Fulmer from 2000-03, instructed ESPN. “We inspired him to go to different locations and he did that. However Tennessee was the place for him and never simply due to the household legacy right here.”
A rising highschool junior, Peace will arrive in 2027 with a deep soccer lineage, highlighted by the grandfather who performed on Tennessee’s offensive line from 1968-71, then rose to legendary standing as this system’s head coach from 1992 to 2008.
Fulmer guided the Vols to back-to-back SEC titles in 1997 and 1998 earlier than main Tennessee to the 1998 nationwide title. All instructed, Fulmer gained six SEC East titles with the Vols and compiled a report of 152-52 over 17 seasons. He later served as the varsity’s athletic director from 2017-21.
Peace’s father, the son of former Louisiana Tech coach Joe Raymond Peace, recorded 164 tackles throughout three seasons underneath Fulmer with the Vols, headlined by a 103-tackle season throughout his senior 12 months in 2003. He later married Fulmer’s oldest daughter Courtney in 2008.
Quickly to be a third-generation Vol, the youthful Peace grew up in and round Tennessee soccer. “He is clearly spent much more time across the program than most youngsters have,” his father stated.
However the first identify in this system’s 2027 class has spent most of his childhood enjoying a sport apart from soccer. Peace was a standout baseball participant earlier than he joined the soccer program at Knoxville West throughout his freshman season in 2023. Energy 4 gives started rolling in for Peace following his sophomore marketing campaign final fall, and Peace visited Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and SMU, amongst others, earlier than closing his recruitment.
His father famous that Peace’s Tennessee pledge was tied as a lot to household connection as his relationship with the Vols’ inside linebackers coach William Inge and the remainder of Heupel’s teaching workers.
“He is very excessive on coach William Inge,” the elder Peace stated. “He is performed a fantastic job recruiting JP, and we consider he is not solely going to make him a greater participant, however a greater individual for after soccer. In order that had a big effect on this resolution to do that this early.”
Peace can not signal with Tennessee till December 2026.