Iowa State transfer guard Tyrese Hunter released his top six schools on Monday with Tennessee landing in the top group.
Hunter is one of the top players in the transfer portal after averaging 11 points, 4.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game on his way to earning Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors.
The Wisconsin native was in the portal for a week before releasing his top six, and the competition is stiff for one of the nation’s best transfers. Hunter’s top six includes Kansas, Louisville, Gonzaga, Texas and Purdue as well as Tennessee.
That top six includes the defending national champion (Kansas), one of the nation’s top programs (Gonzaga), two consistent top 25 programs (Purdue and Tennessee), a big name program (Texas) and a rebuilding national power (Louisville).
So, yeah, landing Hunter is going to be a challenging task for Tennessee.
Still, the Vols seem to have a real chance. According to On3’s Joe Tipton, Hunter is visiting Tennessee this coming weekend. The 6-foot guard visited Purdue last weekend and has a visit scheduled to Gonzaga for the weekend after his visit to Knoxville.
Those are the only three visits that Hunter has scheduled or been on to date. If it stays that way, Tennessee would be even further in the thick of the talented transfer’s recruitment.
Tennessee had four open scholarships after five Vols left the program following the end of the season. Tennessee cut its open scholarships to three after landing Indiana State guard Tyreke Key.
Despite one big man graduating and two big men transferring, the Vols have heavily pursued a number of guards out of the portal. LSU freshman Brandon Murray chose Georgetown over Tennessee, St. Louis point guard Yuri Collins decided to return to St. Louis and the Vols landed Key.
Hunter provides a great blend of the two guards Tennessee missed out on. The freshman is a fantastic perimeter defender and has a number of years of eligibility remaining like Murray but is also a true point guard who can help take some weight off of Zakai Zeigler’s shoulders.
The Iowa State transfer is the No. 6 player in the transfer portal according to EvanMiya.com’s complete transfer portal rankings.
CBS Sports’ top 20 transfer rankings has Hunter at No. 4 while ESPN has him at No. 3.
