Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes is on the road Wednesday, visiting five-star point guard Deron Rippey Jr. according to a report from Stock Risers’ Jake Weingarten. Barnes is at the Blair Academy in New Jersey to visit Rippey and won’t be alone according to Weingarten. An assistant from Texas will visit Rippey Wednesday and coaches from Duke and Kentucky will visit Thursday.
Rippey ranks as a five-star recruit and the No. 17 player in the 2026 recruiting cycle according to the 247sports composite rankings. He also ranks as the top prep player in New Jersey and the No. 2 point guard in his class.
The five-star point guard will officially visit Tennessee the final week of October as part of a major recruiting weekend. Tennessee will also host four-star shooting guard Jasiah Jervis, four-star wing Bryson Howard and four-star power forward Cody Peck on visits that weekend.
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Rippey’s late October official visit to Tennessee is just one of many he has planned for this fall. He’s already visited Miami and North Carolina and also plans on seeing Alabama, Texas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Indiana, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina State.
Tennessee basketball does not have a commit in its 2026 recruiting class yet but its recruiting board is beginning to come into focus. Rippey is one of the Vols’ top targets and point guard is a major position of need. Four-star point guard Miles Sadler is officially visiting Tennessee this weekend to begin a fall of official visits for the Vols.
The Vols have cast a wide net on the wing in the 2026 recruiting cycle. Four-star wing Gage Mayfield officially visited Tennessee back in the summer while four-star Bryson Howard, four-star Bo Ogden and four-star Manny Green have all scheduled fall official visits with the Vols.
Tennessee has four seniors on its 2025-26 roster but after signing a large prep class a season ago, the Vols likely won’t sign an abundance of prep prospects this cycle.
