Tennessee's first commitment in the class of 2027 arrived on Monday with a famous family tie when linebacker prospect JP Peace, grandson of national champion head coach and former Vols athletic director Phillip Fulmer, announced his commitment to the program.
Peace, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound defender from Knoxville (Tennessee) West High School, is the first member of coach Josh Heupel's 2027 class. Not currently ranked by ESPN, Peace earned a scholarship offer from Tennessee on May 12 and held offers from Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt prior to his commitment, which Peace announced on social media.
"Naturally, Tennessee was the leading school for him," his father Robert, who played linebacker under Fulmer from 2000-03, told ESPN. "We encouraged him to visit other places and he did that. But Tennessee was the place for him and not just because of the family legacy here."
A rising high school junior, Peace will arrive in 2027 with a deep football lineage, highlighted by the grandfather who played on Tennessee's offensive line from 1968-71, then rose to legendary status as the program's head coach from 1992 to 2008.
Fulmer guided the Vols to back-to-back SEC titles in 1997 and 1998 before leading Tennessee to the 1998 national title. All told, Fulmer won six SEC East titles with the Vols and compiled a record of 152-52 over 17 seasons. He later served as the school's athletic director from 2017-21.
Peace's father, the son of former Louisiana Tech coach Joe Raymond Peace, recorded 164 tackles across three seasons under Fulmer with the Vols, headlined by a 103-tackle season during his senior year in 2003. He later married Fulmer's oldest daughter Courtney in 2008.
Soon to be a third-generation Vol, the younger Peace grew up in and around Tennessee football. "He's obviously spent a lot more time around the program than most kids have," his father said.
But the first name in the program's 2027 class has spent most of his childhood playing a sport other than football. Peace was a standout baseball player before he joined the football program at Knoxville West during his freshman season in 2023. Power 4 offers began rolling in for Peace following his sophomore campaign last fall, and Peace visited Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and SMU, among others, before closing his recruitment.
His father noted that Peace's Tennessee pledge was tied as much to family connection as his relationship with the Vols' inside linebackers coach William Inge and the rest of Heupel's coaching staff.
"He's very high on coach William Inge," the elder Peace said. "He's done a great job recruiting JP, and we believe he's not only going to make him a better player, but a better person for after football. So that had a big impact on this decision to do this this early."
Peace cannot sign with Tennessee until December 2026.
