Player Profiles for the Lady Vols’ 2025 Roster Additions

Last offseason, Kim Caldwell and her staff hit the ground running when it came to making roster additions. Caldwell had to move quickly to assemble her first Lady Vol squad, and within 45 days, she and her staff had nabbed four transfers.

The Lady Vols’ transfer haul for the 2024-25 campaign proved to be extremely successful, with Zee Spearman, Samara Spencer and Ruby Whitehorn all becoming major contributors and starters for Tennessee, and Alyssa Latham being a valuable bench piece. Favor Ayodele, a late addition to the transfer class, didn’t make much of an impact down the stretch, and Caldwell’s first signing class only consisted of one player — Kaniya Boyd, who was solid off the bench. Overall, though, the newest Lady Vols made a huge impact in their new home.

In Caldwell’s second offseason at Tennessee, she and her staff have grabbed another promising group of transfers, and they’ve signed a massive freshman group that brings plenty of star power to Knoxville.

Caldwell has to replace outgoing seniors Jewel Spear, Samara Spencer, Tess Darby, Sara Puckett and Jillian Hollingshead. In addition, Favor Ayodele, Destinee Wells and Avery Strickland have all entered the transfer portal, and Edie Darby has had to medically retire from basketball. Senior guard Kaiya Wynn missed the 2024-25 season due to injury, so she is expected back with a medical redshirt.

But all that roster attrition means Caldwell and Co. had to replace nine players from this past season’s roster. So far, they’ve inked eight new additions to the 2025-26 roster.

The Lady Vols technically have one more scholarship open at the moment, so it remains to be seen if there will be another addition. As of now, Tennessee’s three-woman transfer class consists of two former McDonald’s All-Americans and a former All-ACC guard, and their recruiting signing class has another three McDonald’s All-Americans and two other top-60 players being added to the mix.

Here are brief player profiles on all three of the Lady Vols’ transfer additions and a quick glimpse at the five players in the 2025 signing class.

Note: High school rankings are taken from ESPN’s women’s basketball recruiting service, HoopGurlz. Offensive and defensive ratings are from Her Hoop Stats. A higher number is better for the offensive rating while a lower number is better for the defensive rating.

Transfers

Janiah Barker

Former School(s): UCLA and Texas A&M
Position: Forward
Height: 6-4
Remaining Eligibility: One year
High School Rating: No. 3 overall (2022 class)
2024-25 Season: 36 games, 17.5 MPG, 7.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 46.5% 2FG, 18.2% 3FG, 65.3% FT
Notable Games: 18 pts, 12 rebs, 3 ast, 2 stl vs. Michigan State; 17 pts, 12 rebs, 3 stl vs. Arkansas; 10 pts, 5 rebs at USC
Honors: 2025 Big Ten Sixth Woman of the Year, 2023 SEC All-Freshman
Offensive Rating: 95.1
Defensive Rating: 78.1

Analysis: Janiah Barker is yet another former McDonald’s All-American to join the Lady Vols as a transfer since Kim Caldwell took over the program. The former five-star prospect played two seasons at Texas A&M before heading west to UCLA, where her role was slightly diminished in the Bruins’ system that relied on the inside-out game of Lauren Betts down low and Kiki Rice and Londynn Jones on the perimeter. Barker’s production dipped at UCLA compared to the more impressive numbers she put up at Texas A&M, but her efficiencies largely remained the same — minus her three-point shooting, which took a massive dip with the Bruins compared to her two seasons in the SEC. She shot just 18.2 percent from three at UCLA, but she connected on 36.2 percent of her threes in her two seasons with the Aggies. I expect her perimeter shooting to bump back up quite a bit at Tennessee.

Barker is a truly elite rebounder with one of the best overall rebounding rates in the country last year at 18.6 percent. She’s been in the 91st percentile or better in total rebounding percentage all three seasons she’s been in college. Her athleticism and size help her on the glass, and those traits are part of why she’s a great defender, too. Her Defensive Rating has been one of the best in the nation each of the last two seasons. Barker already has SEC playing experience, and I think her style of play is perfect for what Caldwell wants from her post players. I expect her to be a great complement to Zee Spearman in the post when the two are on the floor together, and if Barker subs in for Spearman, there shouldn’t be much (if any) drop-off when it comes to what the team can run.

Nya Robertson

Former School(s): SMU and George Washington
Position: Guard
Height: 5-7
Remaining Eligibility: One year
High School Rating: N/A (2021 class)
2023-24 Season: 27 games, 34.3 MPG, 18.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.1 SPG, 33.4% 2FG, 31.2% 3FG, 76.6% FT
Notable Games: 32 pts, 4 rebs, 3 ast, 3 stl vs. Louisville; 28 pts, 4 rebs, vs. Minnesota; 19 pts, 6 rebs, 6 ast at FSU
Honors: 2025 All-ACC 2nd Team, 2024 All-A10 3rd Team, 2023 A10 Sixth Woman of the Year, 2023 A10 All Freshman
Offensive Rating: 89.7
Defensive Rating: 100.4

Analysis: When you think of a “volume scorer,” Nya Robertson is a player that should come to mind. The 5-foot-7 guard enters her fourth season having put up 1,274 field goal attempts in 83 games spread across three seasons with George Washington and SMU. Her shooting efficiencies haven’t been very good, but I’m chalking some of that up to the fact that she’s been the primary scorer on some otherwise mediocre offensive teams, so defenses have been able to key in on her a lot. Even with that and her smaller stature, she’s been an offensive weapon since she stepped foot on the court. Last season, Robertson scored 20-plus points 12 times and scored in double figures all but twice in 27 games. In her first year of high-major play in the ACC last season, she dropped 15 or more points in nine of SMU’s 18 ACC games, including a career-high 32 points against Louisville.

Two things I really like about Robertson’s game that should allow her to fit really well into Kim Caldwell’s system are the pace she plays with and her ability to get to the free throw line. She averaged 5.4 free throw attempts for SMU last season, which is almost double the highest FTA average of Zee Spearman this past season, who had the highest FTA average for the Lady Vols. She’s attempted a whopping 350 free throws in her three seasons, and she’s connected on 75.7 percent of them. She can get to the basket, isn’t afraid to shoot the three, and can shoot the midrange. She’ll be a very fun and interesting piece to this Lady Vol roster this season.

Jersey Wolfenbarger

Former School: LSU and Arkansas
Position: Forward
Height: 6-5
Remaining Eligibility: One year
High School Rating: No. 7 (2021 class)
2023-24 Season: 37 games, 16.2 MPG, 4.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 63.0% 2FG, 56.5% FT
Notable Games: 16 pts, 12 rebs, 3 blk, 2 stl vs. Georgia; 12 pts, 7 rebs, 2 blk, 2 stl vs. Miss St.; 8 pts, 5 rebs, 2 stl at Arkansas
Honors: 2022 SEC All-Freshman
Offensive Rating: 113.5
Defensive Rating: 84.2

Analysis: Another former McDonald’s All-American, Jersey Wolfenbarger should be a much better fit in the Lady Vols’ system than she was in LSU’s offensive philosophy. Wolfenbarger has played all three of her previous seasons in the SEC, so she knows what it takes to be successful in this league. She’s also a unique post player, similar to Janiah Barker, where she’s almost like a guard who plays forward. She was used almost primarily as a down-low big at LSU, and while she saw her two-point field goal percentage sky-rocket to a career-high 63 percent, she didn’t attempt a single three-pointer despite shooting 120 in her two seasons at Arkansas (though only hitting 22.5 percent of them). I expect those three-point attempts to jump back up in Caldwell’s system. Wolfenbarger is another good rebounder, though not quite at the level of Barker and Spearman. I fully expect her to be a valuable bench player for the Lady Vols who will provide more athleticism in the post off the bench than UT had last season.

High School Recruits

Mia Pauldo

Ranking: No. 9 overall, No. 4 PG
Position: Point Guard
Height: 5-5
School: Morris Catholic (NJ)
Awards: McDonald’s All-American, 2025 Gatorade New Jersey Girls Basketball POTY

Deniya Prawl

Ranking: No. 17 overall, No. 5 Wing
Position: Guard
Height: 6-1
School: IMG Academy (FL)
Awards: McDonald’s All-American, 2024 MVP of Basketball Without Borders Americas Camp

Jaida Civil

Ranking: No. 20 overall, No. 6 G
Position: Guard
Height: 6-1
School: Palm Bay Magnet (FL)
Awards: McDonald’s All-American, 2025 Gatorade Florida Girls Basketball POTY, 2025 Florida Miss Basketball

Lauren Hurst

Ranking: No. 45 overall, No. 9 Wing
Position: Guard
Height: 6-2
School: Cleveland (TN)
Awards: USA Basketball U17 Team, 3-time Gatorade Volleyball Player of the Year

Mya Pauldo

Ranking: No. 57 overall, No. 11 PG
Position: Guard
Height: 5-5
School: Morris Catholic (NJ)
Awards: N/A

Analysis: The 2025 recruiting class is one of the best recruiting hauls for the Lady Vols in many years. With the Pauldo twins headlining the show, the class also includes five-stars Deniya Prowl and Jaida Civil along with the top player in the state of Tennessee in Lauren Hurst. Mia Pauldo, Prowl, and Civil were all named McDonald’s All-Americans, marking the first time since 2018 that the Lady Vols have had three McDonald’s All-Americans in a single signing class.

Both the Pauldo twins should make immediate impacts, though how big of an impact they can make in their first year at their size remains to be seen. I fully expect Prowl and Civil to make their presence felt in their first year on Rocky Top, too. Hurst certainly has the potential and athleticism, so I’m not counting her out from seeing significant action either, but I feel she will have the biggest adjustment to make (minus the Pauldo sisters’ adjustment due to their small height).