{"id":587444,"date":"2026-04-16T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T09:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587444\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T09:12:14","slug":"nations-top-tight-end-recruit-announces-commitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587444\/","title":{"rendered":"Nation&#8217;s top tight end recruit announces commitment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 15, 2026, 11:49 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The top tight end recruit in the country, <a href=\"http:\/\/ugawire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/bulldogs\/recruiting\/2026\/04\/13\/recruit-grant-haviland-georgia-football-commitment-date\/89589342007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Grant Haviland<\/a>, has committed to the Vanderbilt Commodores in a bit of a surprise. Haviland is the latest top-ranked player at his position to commit to Vanderbilt over the <a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Georgia Bulldogs<\/a>. The four-star tight end also considered the <a href=\"https:\/\/buckeyeswire.usatoday.com\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ohio State Buckeyes<\/a>, Clemson Tigers and <a href=\"https:\/\/volswire.usatoday.com\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tennessee Volunteers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Haviland&#8217;s commitment is a major recruiting win for Vanderbilt. The Commodores have three total commitments in the class of 2027 including one from four-star linebacker Omarii Sanders. Vanderbilt and coach Clark Lea have the No. 56 recruiting class in the nation, per 247Sports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Haviland is a member of the class of 2027 and stars for Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia, which is in the Atlanta area. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound tight end is the No. 1 tight end in the country in ESPN&#8217;s recruiting rankings. The four-star is the No. 8 recruit in Georgia and the No. 74 recruit in America.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:457px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/89625069007-usatsi-16823750.jpg\" data-gl- decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Georgia Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers (19) runs for a touchdown during the first half against the Vanderbilt Commodores\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">247Sports is not as high on the Milton standout as ESPN and ranks Haviland as a three-star prospect. Haviland is a good student with a 3.9 GPA, so that should help him make the transition to Vanderbilt, which is one of the top <a href=\"http:\/\/ugawire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/bulldogs\/2024\/04\/20\/ranking-sec-universities-georgia-acceptance-rate-2024-uga\/78960154007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">academic schools in the country<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Milton advanced to the second round of the GHSA 5A state playoffs, but fell to Jackson County. Haviland is hoping to finish his high school career with a state championship in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">On tape, the elite tight end recruit shows an impressive combination of size and speed. Haviland wears No. 88 for Milton and posted 343 receiving yards and four touchdowns last season on 24 receptions. He&#8217;s a good route runner who isn&#8217;t afraid to block opposing defenders in the trenches. Haviland has good body control and blocks through the whistle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I will be continuing my academic and athletic career at Vanderbilt,&#8221; Haviland said upon announcing his commitment.<\/p>\n<p>Grant Haviland commits to Vanderbilt football<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Follow UGA Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ugawire\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">on Instagram<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@ugawire\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Threads for<\/a> more Georgia football coverage!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 15, 2026, 11:49 a.m. ET The top tight end recruit in the country, Grant Haviland, has committed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[182817,399,398,396,397,99,256926,256927,184129,192852,185890,191799,256928,182822,230580,190542,184128,182820],"class_list":{"0":"post-587444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-sstssportscollegebulldogsrecruiting","15":"tag-sstsnrecruiting","16":"tag-tagamerican-football","17":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","18":"tag-tagcolleges-universities","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagncaa-southeastern-conference","21":"tag-tagoverall-positive","22":"tag-tagsec-conference-football","23":"tag-tagsmg-timely","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}