Tennessee doesn’t have a player signed or committed in their 2018 recruiting class right now, but they appeared to be making good headway with a talented four-star point guard in the final month of the 2018 cycle. But they received bad news on Wednesday.
James Akinjo, who’s rated as the No. 95 overall player and No. 17 point guard in the 2018 class by the 247Sports Composite rankings, was scheduled to visit Tennessee this upcoming weekend on an official visit. But according to Corey Evans of Rivals.com, Akinjo has canceled that official visit and is instead visiting Arizona.
Rivals150 senior James Akinjo will no longer visit Tennessee this weekend and instead take an official visit to Arizona, per source. Georgetown had hosted him last weekend @MattGOAZCATS https://t.co/uma86EdXzI
— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) April 11, 2018
The Wildcats have come on strong lately in Akinjo’s recruitment, and they’ve been perceived as the favorite to land the former UConn signee’s signature for little over a week now. And with this latest news, it appears as though that speculation is correct. Georgetown is also in the mix for Akinjo.
Akinjo could still visit Tennessee and reschedule his visit, but there’s been no news on that front.
So where does this leave Tennessee, who now has two scholarships to offer in the 2018 class after the transfer of Chris Darrington?
The Vols have shown interest in two other 2018 players recently. Tennessee has reportedly contacted former MTSU power forward commit Carlos Curry, and the Vols sent out an assistant coach to watch former Ole Miss guard commit Serrel Smith work out this past week.
But what if Tennessee doesn’t find an incoming freshman they want to offer? How about the grad transfer route?
Tennessee hasn’t been linked to too many grad transfer options this offseason, but they’ve been in contact with a couple regular transfers. Utah State guard Koby McEwen and Houston Baptist forward David Caraher have both heard from the Vols. Both players would have to sit out the upcoming 2018-19 season due to NCAA transfer rules, however.
