The National early signing day for the 2025 recruiting cycle kicked off on Wednesday as seniors across the country signed their national letter of intent to their respective university. 

Christian Gass did just that as he chose to sign with the Tennessee Volunteers over schools like Georgia, USC and Florida. Gass has been committed to Coach Josh Heupel and Tennessee since July 20, 2024. 

The recruiting process for Gass hasn’t been easy as the top schools across the country have been trying to get the 6-foot-2.5, 215 pound athlete to come to their school. Ultimately, Tennessee made him a priority. 

“Honestly from the start it was genuine love from their staff and fanbase,” Gass said. “I saw an opportunity to head to Knoxville to show my talent.”

Gass is rated as a four- star linebacker and 224th best player in the country, 32nd best player in the state of Georgia according to many recruiting services. When Gass arrives in Knoxville, he will likely play the role that current junior James Pearce Jr is currently in.

“Right now the coaching staff see that I can become the version of James Pearce,” Gass said. “I just wait to be able to affect the game in multiple ways because of my versatility.”

The 2024 Eastside football team season came to an end on Black Friday as they were defeated by the Creekside Seminoles 26-0 in the elite eight of the GHSA AAAA state playoffs. 

Battling through the challenges of this past season with his fellow seniors is something Gass will remember when thinking back on his time as an Eagles.

“We had a lot of adversity throughout the year where we didn’t always play on Friday nights,” Gass said. “And as a senior class we were together as a team before we entered high school so it was fun to make a deep run in the playoffs with my brothers.”