Despite adding a trio of needed portal pieces to the roster this offseason, Tennessee didn’t land on ESPN’s recent list of the Top 13 transfer portal teams in the latest cycle.
That’s not all that surprising, though. The Vols only brought in three transfer portal players, which ranks 30th as a class overall in 247’s transfer portal rankings. Former Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie lands as the No. 12 player in the cycle, former Louisiana Tech shooting guard Amaree Abram ranks as the No. 215 player in the portal, and former Vanderbilt forward Jaylen Carey lands at No. 220 in the rankings.
Tennessee addressed its needs in the portal with its three veteran additions. However, while the Vols’ transfer portal ranking might not crack the Top 25, Tennessee has also attacked its roster rebuild in other ways, which should have fans excited for the 2025-2026 season.
Tennessee is bringing in five freshmen to the roster this offseason, highlighted by five-star wing Nate Ament. The 6-foot-10, 185-pound prospect is ranked as the fourth overall player in the class and should make an immediate impact in his first season with the Vols. While he’s not a transfer player, Ament’s addition is up there as one of the best moves of the offseason because of his natural blue-chip talent.
“Ament is one of the best long-term prospects in the country,” 247 Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein wrote in a summer 2024 evaluation of the Tennessee signee. “He’s an immense talent and still in the early stages of putting it all together. He has good positional size for a face-up forward at over 6-foot-9 with an elastic body type, albeit a relatively modest 6-foot-11 wingspan. He’s a fluid mover, plus athlete, and has tremendous natural hands and touch, which are the foundation of his developing skill-set.”
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Rick Barnes and his staff are also bringing in shooting guard Amari Evans and center DeWayne Brown, both of whom rank as four-star products in the 2025 recruiting class. Another addition to the roster is international combo guard Clarence Massamba, who played his most recent season with AC Monaco’s U21 team, a professional club in France, where he averaged 9.8 PPG on 45% shooting.
While they might not be transfer additions, these are talented pieces that should work well in Barnes’ style of play with Tennessee.
Additionally, when examining the 13 teams in ESPN’s portal rankings, only two of those teams have a Top 10 prospect signed to their roster, highlighting the varying approaches teams are taking in their rebuilding processes (Louisville, Southern Cal).
Lastly, while not an addition from either the portal or the high school scene, Tennessee does return big man JP Estrella from injury this season. Estrella played in 25 games as a freshman in 2023-2024, and then played in just three games for Tennessee last season before suffering a season-ending injury. But while he missed the previous season, Estrella was beginning to emerge into his own at the end of his freshman season. He’s a top-notch player and will be a welcome return to the roster as a healthy player this upcoming season.
ESPN released another way-too-early rankings update earlier this month, with Tennessee landing as the No. 23 team on the list. The Vols aren’t necessarily viewed as one of the top contenders this early in the offseason, but there’s plenty of time for Barnes and his new-look coaching staff to put together the pieces to make another run in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee will need its transfers to step up and it would be a huge benefit for the freshmen to figure things out quickly, but that’s not out of the realm of possibilities. While it isn’t all coming from the portal like other teams, the additions (and the one big return) that Tennessee made this offseason should still keep the Vols in the running once the season unfolds.
“Tennessee has been busy reloading the roster, with top-five recruit Nate Ament and Maryland transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie representing two of the most impactful newcomers for any team in the country,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote. “Ament has incredible long-term upside, while Gillespie was among the best point guards in college basketball this past season. Louisiana Tech transfer Amaree Abram also adds shooting.”
