Maybe no high school prospect’s recruitment has blown up more in the last month than Greeneville power forward Trey Thompson.
The fast rising local product made the short trip to Knoxville over the weekend for his official visit with Tennessee basketball. Thompson is no stranger to Tennessee, taking a handful of unofficial visits in the last year, but his official visit allowed him to get a closer look at the Vols and their coaching staff.
“The biggest thing I took away was learning more about coaching staff and players,” Thompson told RTI Monday. “I had sit down meals with them. I hung out with the guys and they told me stories about them. Messing around, Coach Barnes has a great personality. Also got to watch practices and them take their vitamins— which is a shooting drill they do every day. Definitely got to see the other side of basketball as well as them practice. How they act.”
Former Tennessee assistant Rod Clark was Thompson’s lead recruiter before leaving for a job at Indiana earlier this offseason. Thompson got to know all of the Vols’ assistant coaches, as well as Barnes during his visit, but Bryan Lentz is Thompson’s new lead recruiter.
“Coach Lentz now is recruiting me really hard,” Thompson said. “What stands out about him is I grew up playing against his son and played a few tournaments with his son. I know that family pretty well.”
A 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward, Thompson currently ranks as a four-star recruit, the No. 131 player in the country and No. 4 player in Tennessee according to the 247sports composite rankings. While Thompson is a low four-star recruit for now, he will likely fly up the recruiting rankings after a strong spring.
Thompson is a versatile forward who can defend, score inside and keep defenses honest by hitting shots from the perimeter.
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“I watched film with Coach Barnes and they really see me as a Cade Phillips and Igor Milicic put in one,” Thompson said. “Good players there. Be able to have good size and rebound and pass really well, but also, the main factor, is to stretch the floor and shoot the ball a lot.”
A Greeneville High School standout, Thompson plays for the same program that incoming Tennessee transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie played for. Gillespie is four years older than Thompson but the two have known each other for a while.
Thompson watched game two of the NBA Finals with Gillespie at his dorm on Sunday night as the Oklahoma City Thunder knocked off the Indiana Pacers to even up the series. The blue-chip recruit’s official visit didn’t just allow him to get to know Tennessee’s coaches better but also its players.
“They (players) said that if you want to get better and be pushed hard, come to Tennessee,” Thompson said. “Practices are no joke. Lifts are no joke. But it’ll just make you better at the end of the day. Off the court, Coach Barnes is a good mentor to be around. Cracks jokes. It’s a good environment to be in for sure.”
Indiana, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas and Virginia have all offered Thompson in the last three weeks. Thompson has an official visit lined up to Iowa on June 23-24 and plans on visiting Clemson before then. He’ll also “maybe” go see Indiana and UConn later this summer. Thompson grew up a Kansas fan and would like to see the Jayhawks as well. He has also visited Purdue previously.
The local standout doesn’t have an exact timeline for a commitment lined up but is tentatively targeting early 2026 for a decision.
