Tennessee basketball has made the cut for the top player out of the state in the 2026 class.
Chris Washington Jr., a standout small forward at Providence Christian Academy in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has narrowed his list of schools down to seven. The Vols join Auburn, Villanova, Ole Miss, FAMU, Alabama and Cincinnati as programs he is narrowing in on, via a report from Joe Tipton.
Washington ranks as a five-star recruit, according to 247 composite rankings, and is the No. 23 overall recruit in the country. He is listed as the No. 10 player at his position.
The wing stands at 6-foot-7 and 175 pounds at the moment. He has wrapped up his junior season and is now turning his attention to his final season of prep basketball.
Along with his finalists, Washington has also received offers from Florida State, West Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Clemson, Louisville, Cal, Texas A&M, Missouri and Vanderbilt. He has an official visit scheduled to see Alabama on Sept. 6, which is his only visit on the books at the moment. He is yet to visit Tennessee.
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The Vols currently hold no commitments in the 2026 class. However, Tennessee is in the mix for a group of highly-rated recruits in the cycle.
This comes after UT did a great job of replenishing its roster this past offseason. Including transfer portal additions, Tennessee added foreign guards with professional experience in Ethan Burg and Clarence Massamba.
In the high school ranks, Rick Barnes landed five-star forward and No. 4 overall recruit Nate Ament. He joins four-star wing Amari Evans, three-star forward DeWayne Brown II and unraked point guard Troy Henderson.
Other players on the team with additional eligibility are J.P. Estrella, Cade Phillips, Jaylen Carey and Bishop Boswell. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Felix Okpara and Amaree Abram will be out of eligibility.
