The next era of Tennessee’s men’s basketball program has arrived. Well, most of it, anyways.
Two of the Vols’ three signees in their 2019 class have officially arrived on campus. Five-star guard Josiah Jordan-James and three-star small forward Davonte Gaines made it to UT’s campus on Monday and began unpacking in their new dorm rooms. Three-star forward and Bearden standout Drew Pember is expected to join the team and arrive on campus in June.
The official Tennessee basketball Twitter account posted a video of Gaines and Jordan-James arriving, and the video documented their move in to their dorms. Gaines, the No. 208 overall prospect in the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, has been waiting for this day for quite a while.
“I’ve been thinking about this since I committed, like, just moving down here,” Gaines said in the video, “so I’m really ready to get with the team, get with the coaches, and make this thing happen.”
Gaines hails from New York but spent this past season at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. He committed to the Vols all the way back on July 1st of 2017, so he’s had a while to envision this day.
Jordan-James, the highest-rated prospect that head coach Rick Barnes has signed in his Tennessee tenure, is excited to leave his mark on Tennessee and see what UT has to offer him.
“It means a lot. This has been a long time coming,” Jordan-James said. “I’m excited for everything, the academics side, the athletics side. I’m excited to bring my flare to the university and see what they have to offer me.
“I’d rather be in the gym right now than doing this (unpacking), but we gotta take care of this first.”
The five-star guard out of Charleston, South Carolina is the No. 21 overall player and No. 1 player in the state of South Carolina in the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He committed to the Vols on September 19th of 2018 and signed with them in the fall.
Here’s the full video of the two newest Vols moving in to campus:
WELCOME HOME ???@jjjames30 x @TheRealTicket35 pic.twitter.com/8qYEqFCWCG
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) May 6, 2019
