Tennessee’s men’s basketball coaches are focusing primarily on trying to land some elite talent in their 2019 recruiting class right now. But they’re also focusing a lot on some talented athletes in the 2020 cycle already, and they just sent out an offer to one of the top players in the state of Tennessee in the next recruiting cycle.
Matthew Murrell is a four-star shooting guard from Memphis. He plays for Whitehaven and is already rated as one of the top players in the 2020 class. And he tweeted out that Tennessee extended an offer to him this week.
Blessed to receive a scholarship offer from UT Knoxville ?⚪️ #GoVols pic.twitter.com/zxwemfV0IJ
— Matt???? (@_iamMM12_) July 26, 2018
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Murrell is the No. 101 overall player in the 2020 class and is the third-ranked player in the state of Tennessee. Only shooting guard Keon Johnson (No. 35 overall) and power forward Keon Ambrose (No. 76 overall) are ranked higher in the state.
Murrell has been gaining a lot of attention for his play during the summer. He’s been given scholarship offers from Ole Miss, St. Louis, Florida, and Cincinnati over the last month-plus, and Memphis extended an offer to him back in early April. He also holds an offer from Iowa State.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound guard has grabbed attention for his play this summer during several summer leagues. He’s currently participating in an Under Armour-sponsored summer tournament. And it’s clear to see after watching his film why schools have started to pay more and more attention to him.
Murrell is extremely confident in his abilities and has some elite athleticism. He can leap out of the building and skies for dunks on several occasions. He’s not afraid to pull up and shoot from three or attempt jumpers from anywhere on the court. He has a smooth stroke and isn’t bad at passing either. He’s definitely more of a scoring guard right now, but he has the groundwork there to be an effective passer if he trains more in that area.
In four games during the Under Armour-sponsored tournament, Murrell is averaging 9.8 points and two rebounds per game in 19.8 minutes per game according to Prep Circuit. He’s shooting 53.3 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three.
The Vols are targeting a lot of guards early on the 2020 cycle. Of the eight scholarship offers they’ve handed out in the 2020 class so far, six of them have been to guards. Tennessee has also offered the aforementioned Keon Johnson, five-star point guard Sharife Cooper, five-star shooting guard Jaden Springer, four-star shooting guard Justin Powell, and point guard Norance Berry.
