Notre Dame transfer wing Jalen Haralson met with the local media in Knoxville Tuesday with Tennessee basketball’s summer practices getting underway last week. It’s a completely new look Tennessee team with an abundance of talent as the Vols look to get over the hump after three straight trips to the Elite Eight.
Meeting with the media Tuesday, Haralson discussed choosing Tennessee out of the transfer portal, his initial impressions of the Vols’ roster and much more. Here’s everything Haralson said.
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On his first impressions of the 2026-27 Tennessee basketball team
“We got some guys. All these guys I’m familiar with. I either played (against) them throughout this college scene or in high school scene. Me and Juke Harris, we share the same agent, so I’m familiar with him. These guys can hoop, we’re real competitive. We got some players and guys that want to be coached.”
On how he believes the team is coming together in the early weeks of summer practice
“We’re still trying to. We got some ways to go, but like I said, these guys want to be coached. We all came here for the same reason: we want to play professionally, we want to be coached hard and we want to win. I think everybody has the same collective goal to get better and win. It’ll all come together.”
On if any leaders are starting to emerge early in summer practice
“It’s early. I think everybody wants to be a leader, but that’s a tough thing to do. You got to kind of be the outspoken guy in the group. I think we’re still looking for that guy.”
On the parts of his game he’s focusing on this offseason
“Obviously continuing to get better with the three-point line and the mid-range area, but also just improving my body defensively, being better on the rebounding end, so really all parts of my game. Some areas that I feel that I have a lot of growth so far, but still some time left in the offseason to get a lot better at.”
On why he committed to Tennessee out of the transfer portal
“This was the only school I visited in the transfer portal, so as soon as I stepped on campus, it felt like home with the coaching staff. They were real direct with me. I feel like this was the best staff to push me to get to my ultimate goal, and I love Knoxville, it’s a smooth area, not a lot going on. The students aren’t here yet, so I’m excited to see what it’s like in the fall.”
On his relationship with Rick Barnes
“I love Coach Barnes. He’s real direct, but he wants to push you. He wants you to get to your goal and I trust him with my game. It’s some days it’s like this guy’s relentless, but that’s what I signed up for.”
On if Rick Barnes has come down hard on him in practice yet
“I think everybody has, not just me. Like I said, he’s relentless. He wants you to get better and he’s not gonna let you slack. Not just me. He (doesn’t) single nobody out. It’s all from a place of love, but, like I said, I signed up for that. I knew that coming in, and I feel like it’s gonna help me with my game.”
On what excites him the most about Tennessee’s roster
“Just the versatility, like you got guys that can do a lot of different things on this team, guys that want to win. I think that’s the main thing, like being around these guys, that’s my first impression. These guys just really want to win, and we really want to get to our goal, and we all push each other in the weight room, off the court, on the court, and it’s impressive.”
On why he felt Tennessee’s coaching staff was the best for him in the portal
“They didn’t sugarcoat things with me. They told me things (that) I need to work on, and they showed me a plan of how we’re going to get there. That was impressive, like being on the visit, they told me I had a good year last year, but I left a lot of food on the table. I got a lot of things to get better at, and like this is how they’re going to get me to that point. I like that.”
On leaning on Troy Henderson and DeWayne Brown about hard coaching
“That’s a good question. I mean, those guys have been around him, for you they’re not juniors or seniors or anything, but they’re the veterans of the group. So every time Coach Barnes gets on us, those guys usually come to us, like, ‘yo, it’s okay. Like, that’s how it is.’ You kind of lean on those guys through tough moments because they’ve been here, and they kind of seen the way.”
On areas Coach Barnes has emphasized for improvement that he didn’t know he needed to improve
“Yeah, that’s a good question. I think the defensive end, like, I left a lot of food on the table on that end. But I was a high usage player last year. I had 33% usage rate. And obviously it won’t be that this year. That was kind of crazy. But like, being a two-way player and really selling out on the defensive end. And I think like shooting the ball, being comfortable taking open shots, even if it’s halfway open because we’re going to offensive rebound a lot here. So you can’t offensive rebound turnovers. If you don’t take a shot you can’t offensive rebound. So there’s a lot of things that he’s said I need to work on. Conditioning, all those things. They showed me a plan how of how they’re going to get me there.”
On if Coach Barnes has talked to him about a specific role
“I may just be a basketball player, no specific role. I’m kind of the way the game is going, you just got to play. And that’s like, if you watch our practices like kind of what he emphasizes, like, just play basketball, man, at this point, I’ve gotten to this point being a good basketball player, so there’s no need to overthink things at University of Tennessee.”
On if he’s made any tweaks to his shot
“Not really. My shot, I mean, it’s nothing wrong mechanically. Just being more comfortable shooting the ball and getting to my spots, mid ranges. I think in the mid range, kind of getting higher release, but I mean nothing really much.”
On if he talked to Juke Harris much during his recruitment
“Yeah, I kind of stayed distant, like, he was going through the draft process too. So I kind of didn’t want to be in his ear because obviously, if he chose that route, then that’s best for him. But then once I figured it out that he was coming back (to college) then I kind of got in his ear a little bit. I wanted him to come play with me. I wanted to team up with him.”
