Four-star New England center JP Estrella is under two weeks from announcing his college decision on Sept. 2.
Rick Barnes and his staff were in on the late rising recruit early and it may have paid off in a big way with Estrella’s recruitment taking off in recent months.
Tennessee received four predictions across multiple recruiting outlets to land the 6-foot-11 center over the weekend. Rivals’ Travis Graf as well as 247sports’ national recruiting analyst Travis Branham and beat writers Trevor Andershock and Colby Giacubeno made crystal ball predictions for the Vols to land the four-star center.
Estrella ranks as the No. 48 player and No. 9 center in the country according to the 247sports composite rankings. Some sites are even higher on the New England big man, including On3 which ranks Estrella as the No. 16 player in the country.
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Estrella hasn’t released a top group ahead of his decision but did officially visit four schools this summer. The South Portland, Maine native visited Marquette and Tennessee in June, Iowa in July and local Syracuse earlier this month.
The blue-chip recruit earned an offer from Duke earlier this summer and scheduled an official visit to Durham before cancelling it. That cancellation may play major dividends for Tennessee with predictions flowing in for the Vols to land Estrella.
Tennessee’s 2023 recruiting class currently holds two commits including four-star power forward Cade Phillips and four-star combo guard Freddie Dilione.
Estrella would build on an already solid class and give the Vols one of the top 10 classes in the country.
