After signing his first 5-star at Tennessee in G Josiah James, along with Wing Davonte Gaines and Stretch-4 Drew Pember, it appeared that Rick Barnes was finished recruiting for the 2019 class. After all, the Vols have one scholarship open during the 2018-19 season and have only two seniors in Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander. However, as this season has progressed it has become a much more realistic possibility that there will be more scholarships open when all is said and done. For one, Junior F Grant Williams is having yet another outstanding season and is on his way to becoming the first back-to-back SEC Player of the Year since Corliss Williamson. He’s therefore earning more and more first round NBA Draft buzz as he’s not only expanded his game to include more outside shooting but at the same time the NBA itself continues to evolve in a way that no longer labels someone with Williams’s body type and game a “tweener” who can’t play at a high level in the league. His classmate, Junior PG Jordan Bone, is also having a breakout season and has cemented himself as the premier lead guard in the SEC and one of the best in the country. At close to 6’4 he’s got workable height for an NBA PG and his athleticism and speed are elite. His shot has continued to improve as well, both in terms of catch and shoot and even off the dribble, and as the Vols continue to rack up wins and see their national profile surge it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Bone’s name start to garner some buzz as well. Finally, without naming names, there is at least one player on the current roster who could decide that having seen essentially zero minutes in two seasons at Tennessee that a transfer is the best thing for him.
With all of these possibilities, it stands to reason that Tennessee should be continuing to recruit not just for 2020 and 2021, where the Vols already are in great shape for some elite prospects, but also for 2019. Especially since the program’s national profile has never been higher – the Vols are now the #1 team in the country and are set up to win back to back SEC championships and have a deep March run – and Tennessee already has a 5-star in James it can tout to potential classmates. As Tennessee Basketball stamps itself as an up and coming premier program – see this outstanding post by one of the best and most knowledgeable hoops posters on Volquest.com – it needs to take advantage of any opportunity it has to add more and more great players that fit its culture.
After the November signing period the pickings are relatively slim in terms of no-doubt high level players, and when considering the kind of character/fit filter that Barnes places on potential recruits that field narrows down even further. However, there are a few potential avenues that Tennessee could pursue should more scholarships open up.
Unsigned 2019 Recruits or Signed 2019 Recruits Who Could Get Out of LOIs
Although the Vols don’t find themselves in the mix for any of the top unsigned prospects in the 2019 class, that’s largely a function of the staff having originally targeted a small number of players and then landing three of them. However, there are still multiple high level 2019 players who have yet to sign/commit – 11 of the Top 47 players in the Rivals Top 150 are in fact undecided – and again as Tennessee both becomes a more desirable destination and also finds itself with an opening(s) the Vols could find themselves back recruiting multiple new 2019 players.
At the same time, every year when coaches get fired or leave for greener pastures players who signed LOIs in the fall signing period are released. That will shake itself out over the course of the next two months or so, but one can be assured that the Tennessee staff is well aware of who is on the hot seat and what players signed to those schools the Vols might want to target.
Grad Transfers
A new trend is the massive amount of transfers in college basketball every offseason, many of whom are immediately eligible as graduates from their prior school. Tennessee could use one of its theoretical open scholarships on such a player as a way to add a veteran player to what no matter what will be a talented and experienced roster. Tennessee hit it relatively big two offseasons ago when they beat out Ohio State for James Daniel III, a high-scoring guard from Howard Universitywho was a graduate transfer. “JDIII” ended up being a meaningful contributor as a 3rd guard and great locker room presence on an SEC Championship team. This past offseason however, the Vols were burned when they couldn’t get Richmond transfer guard Kwan Fore into school and ended up having the aforementioned open scholarship. This is likely the route that Barnes will take should the Vols end up with only one scholarship open AND they can’t get a high level 2019 prospect or 2020 reclassifier (see below) AND they want to hold that scholarship open for what looks like it could be a monster class in 2020.
2020 Reclassifiers
Another relatively recent phenomenon that Tennessee freshman DJ Burns just took advantage of is for basketball players to reclassify into the class ahead of theirs and graduate/enroll in their school of choice a year early.
Walker Kessler is a 5-star 2020 Tennessee target who has mentioned reclassifying enough times to make one thinks it’s a real possibility. Both Kessler’s brother and uncle played at UGA so the Dawgs are a strong contender, but the Vols are also fighting with the likes of Duke, Virginia, Michigan and UNC for the multi-skilled Center. However, Rob Lewis from Volquest, who has more knowledge of what at least the Tennessee staff thinks about where they are with recruiting than anyone, seems to think that Tennessee is in better shape here than most national analysts do. Tennessee will have to get him to campus to give itself a chance though, and the good news is that with the new official visit rules they can bring Kessler in for an official visit this season and if he does decide to stick in 2020 they can get him back officially again.
RJ Hampton and Jalen Green are Top 5 recruits in the 2020 class who to this point have not shown much interest in the Vols. However, should the Vols indeed have a dream season they could find themselves in the mix for these two, among other future reclassifiers.
The bottom line is that Barnes and Tennessee could be in the enviable position of having open scholarships when their stock has never been higher, and should be looking to take advantage. Again, they are going to be picky when it comes to not just talent but also character, but just because they have at least 8 players returning next year from this year’s squad plus their 3 signees doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be looking to add bigtime talent when and where they can.