Niko Kampas, 4-star tackle from Europe, commits to Tennessee football – Knoxville News Sentinel

Tennessee football landed four-star offensive tackle Niko Kampas, a European prospect from the NFL Academy in England in the 2027 class.
Kampas chose Tennessee over Vanderbilt. His commitment was announced by the agency Red Envelope Sports, which Kampas is signed with, on social media on July 17.
Kampas, a 6-foot-7, 294-pounder, is originally from Germany. He attends the NFL Academy, a high school in Loughborough, England, that focuses on developing college recruits in American football as a global initiative of the NFL.
“At the end, it pretty much came down to Vanderbilt and Tennessee,” Kampas told GoVols247. “And, obviously, the academics at Vanderbilt were awesome. If you ask my father, he wanted me to go to Vanderbilt. But we both agreed, at the end, I’m going over to America — it’s a big step and everything — for football, right? And the academics I take with me are a huge upside, but they’re not the main reason, obviously. …
“But I wanted to be at a place kind of where football matters and you get all the academic support you can get and all the football support you can get. And from all the schools, I asked them, ‘How are you going to develop me? What’s your plan?’ (Offensive line) Coach (Glen) Elarbee and Tennessee just had the most precise plan with a time schedule throughout the year, which I really liked.”
Kampas is ranked the No. 27 offensive tackle and the No. 226 prospect overall in the 2027 class by 247Sports Composite.
At the NFL Academy, he was teammates of Tennessee tight end Luca Wolf, who signed with the Vols in the 2026 class.
UT also signed edge rusher Emmanuel Okoye from the NFL Academy in 2023. He transferred to Cal in 2026.
Tennessee has 17 commitments in its 2027 recruiting class: linebacker JP Peace, offensive tackle Princeton Uwaifo, quarterback Derrick Baker, athlete Jaden Butler, wide receiver KeSean Bowman, defensive back Carter Jamison and defensive back Brandon Leavell, tight end Malik Howard, defensive lineman Christian Mays, cornerback Dylan Haley, linebacker Kenneth Simon II, kicker Ford Fehling, long snapper Sam McKeown, offensive tackle Q’Mari Hudson, athlete Dayon Cooper, safety Marcus Jones and Kampas.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Emailadam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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