5-star basketball target to announce decision on Friday

Jabari Smith, Tennessee’s top remaining basketball target, will announce his collegiate decision this coming Friday.

The Twitter account Tipton Edits tweeted out that Smith informed them that he would be picking between the Vols, Georgia, LSU, North Carolina, Auburn and Georgia Tech.

2021 five-star Jabari Smith will announce his college decision this Friday, he tells me.

Choosing between: Georgia, Georgia Tech, UNC, Tennessee, Auburn, & LSU.@jabarismithll

— Tipton Edits (@TiptonEdits) October 6, 2020

According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Smith is the No. 5 overall prospect and No. 1 power forward in the 2021 cycle. The 6-foot-10, 210-pound athlete — who plays for Sandy Creek in Tyrone, Georgia — has been on UT’s radar for a while, and Tennessee’s coaching staff has made sure to let him know that he’s one of their top targets in this cycle.

Smith got to see the Vols in action twice this past season. He took an official visit to see Tennessee in late February for UT’s victory over Florida, marking Smith’s final visit before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down recruiting visits. The week before that, Smith took a trip over to Auburn when the Tigers hosted the Vols.

The talented forward played with the USA Under 16 squad last year and helped guide the US to a gold medal in the 2019 FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Smith started three of six games for the 2019 USA U16 National Team and averaged 13.8 points and 6.2 rebounds.

In his junior season, Smith averaged 24.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 steals per game according to MaxPreps. He shot 50 percent overall from the floor and 38 percent from three.

Tennessee doesn’t currently has two commitments in the class of 2021. The Vols received a commitment from five-star point guard Kennedy Chandler in August and then received a commitment from four-star guard Jahmai Mashack in September. Tennessee currently has the No. 26 overall recruiting class in the country.