No.3 Player in Country Commits to Barns
Rick Barnes has done it again. After losing over half of his Elite-8 roster to graduation, it was going to be a tough task to assemble another Top 5 team. A large piece of that puzzle was added on Sunday with the commitment of 5-Star Nate Ament.
The 6-foot-9 Ament, the No. 3 overall player in the On3 rankings, committed to Tennessee over Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Arkansas. He is the highest-rated recruit to ever commit to Tennessee in basketball.
Ament joins Maryland transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie & Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey as the Vols look to reload for another successful season under Rick Barnes.
Tennessee will look to see if they can add Rodney Rice who played with Gillespie at Maryland. If so, look for another successful season for the Vols in 2025/2026.
Swapping Quarterbacks with UCLA?
We all know about Nico’s sudden departure to UCLA after a failed NIL negotiation attempt. What people might not know is UCLA already had a QB committed from the portal in App State signal-caller, Joey Aguilar.
With UCLA bringing in Nico, Aguilar has now officially announced he is in the portal. Pete Nakos of On3 reported that Aguilar is now meeting with Tennessee on Monday for a visit. Josh Heupel has expressed interest in Aguilar and needs to add another QB to the roster for depth.
A veteran quarterback, Joey Aguilar set single-season school records in passing yards (3,757), passing touchdowns (33) and total offense (4,002) at Appalachian State in 2023. He was named the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year.
We will see if Tennessee ends up completing the swap. Would be a storybook ending for Aguilar to come to Knoxville and outplay Nico after the story became national news.