Because of the Vols’ success on the basketball court the last season and a half, they’ve been able to legitimately fish in deeper recruiting waters. It started with Tennessee pulling in four-star forward DJ Burns in the 2018 class, and it continued when five-star guard Josiah James signed with the Vols in the 2019 class. Now, the Vols have been going after a lot of elite talent in the 2020 class, and they got some good news from one of the highest-rated players in that class on Tuesday.
Greg Brown III, a five-star power forward from Austin, Texas, holds offers from tons of the top basketball programs around the country. Now, he’s narrowing his focus to a smaller group of schools, and Tennessee has made the cut.
TOP 10 ❗❗ #Hedgehogfam pic.twitter.com/heKzXQ9XZe
— Greg Brown (@gb3elite) February 19, 2019
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Brown is rated as the No. 6 overall player in the 2020 class and the top overall power forward in the class. He’s the No. 2 player in the state of Texas in the 2020 cycle as well, coming in behind only five-star combo guard RJ Hampton. Brown plays for Vandergrift High School in Austin.
Brown’s top 10 has a strong midwest and Texas feel to it, but there are also four SEC teams in his top 10. Tennessee is included among the SEC schools, and the rest include Texas A&M, Auburn, and LSU.
Brown’s dad, Greg Brown II, was a standout football player for the Texas Longhorns and played for the Denver Broncos in the NFL for a few seasons. His uncle also played at Texas, except he played basketball. So the Longhorns have the clear legacy advantage over any other team recruiting Brown.
The 6-foot-9, 195-pound forward is a high-flying forward who has incredible athleticism and defensive skills. He’s a volume scorer as a power forward, which you don’t see very often. But he’s gifted in the paint and can shoot jumpers as well. As is the case with a lot of players Rick Barnes and his staff recruit, Brown stands out from other highly-rated players because of his strong foundation defensively. He swats passes and shots like they’re nothing, and he has good defensive instincts.
Through the first seven games of his junior season for Vandergrift, Brown was averaging 35 points, 14 rebounds, and six blocks per game. He’s had several 30 and 40-point performances this season, and he was a star for several summer circuit teams last year.
Brown isn’t the only highly-rated big man the Vols are in on for the 2020 cycle. Five-star Walker Kessler, four-star Dain Dainja, and four-star PJ Hall are among the most notable.
