Tennessee continues to fish in deeper recruiting waters in men’s basketball. Now, they’ve extended an offer to one of the hottest names on the recruiting trail currently.
Chet Holmgren is a four-star center who measures in at 7-feet tall, and he’s tearing it up in the AAU circuit right now. He’s been participating in various spring camps and tournaments — most notably the Under Armour Association sessions — and he’s been a force so far. According to Bleacher Report, Holmgren is averaging 16.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 5.8 blocks per game this spring.
No. 17 2021 recruit Chet Holmgren is blowing up
The 7-foot sophomore is averaging 16 points, 7.5 boards, and 5.8 blocks per game on the UAA circuit pic.twitter.com/zjlETrfpXL
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 7, 2019
The seven-footer has been picking up offers left and right in 2019, and that continued this week. Now, Holmgren holds an offer from the Vols according to Jake Weingarten of StockRisers.com.
Tennessee just extended an offer to five-star sophomore Chet Holmgren, a source told @Stockrisers.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) May 7, 2019
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, the 7-foot Holmgren is the No. 61 overall player and No. 10 center in the 2021 recruiting cycle. He just finished up his sophomore season of basketball, but he already holds offers from Kansas, Gonzaga, Texas, Purdue, Marquette, Florida, Georgia, Baylor, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M among many others.
In one game this spring, Holmgren blocked 12 shots according to stats from PrepCircuit.com. Not only is Holmgren able to find his shot on offense and has a much better skill set than you might imagine offensively, but he’s one of the best shot-blockers in the country.
Though he stands at 7-feet tall, Holmgren is extremely scrawny. He weighs just 190 pounds and looks rail thin on his torso and arms. But that doesn’t stop him from playing physical basketball, and he protects the basket at all costs.
Holmgren has some very impressive range for a big man. He’s definitely one of those seven-footers who can shoot the three, and he has a good jump shot. Like I said above, though, he’s not afraid to play physical despite his lack of weight. With his size, you expect Holmgren to dunk the ball a lot, and he does. But he also has some good footwork and post moves, and he’s more multifaceted than you might expect, Defensively, you won’t find a better shot blocker in the high school ranks. Holmgren doesn’t just block a lot of shots because of his size, though; he has very good defensive instincts and can guard a variety of positions. He’s not a slow big by any means.
Back in late April, Holmgren was named one of the top performers at the second session of the UAA circuit in Kansas City. He was among the 10 best performers along with two other Vol targets in five-star guard Jaden Springer and four-star guard Matthew Murrell.
Holmgren will be in high demand moving forward, assuming he can add on more weight and improve his strength. He already has a ton of tools that make him very valuable in today’s game, and he’s one of the fastest-rising sophomores on the recruiting trail.
The Vols could use a seven-footer with both rim protection skills and three-point range (who couldn’t?), so keep an eye on what UT does moving forward in Holmgren’s recruitment.
