When taking a look at the month of May overall, you will be hard to find a bigger winner on the recruiting trail than Tennessee Basketball.
Beginning the month with a massive addition in 2022 five-star forward Julian Phillips, the Volunteers have also recently added another piece to their 2022 class in four-star forward DJ Jefferson, along with the first commit in their 2023 class in power forward Tobe Awaka.
Well, Tennessee Basketball and head coach Rick Barnes added yet another commitment during the month of May on Thursday in Cade Phillips, a name that will likely be a key piece of the Volunteers 2023 class.
Tennessee’s fourth commitment during the month of May, Phillips is rated a four-star prospect from Jacksonville High School in Alabama. The nation’s No. 67 overall player in the 2023 class according to the 247Sports Composite, Phillips is also considered as the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama, and is a versatile playmaker at 6-foot-9 who can impact a game in many different ways.
Tennessee Basketball is the clear recruiting winner during the month of May
While you could certainly say that the Volunteers were already the biggest recruiting winner in all of college basketball going into Thursday, there is likely no disputing that after the addition of Phillips.
Holding only one commit in four-star guard BJ Edwards entering the month of May, the Volunteers 2022 class continued to rise up the recruiting ranking across the last couple of weeks, now sitting at No. 6 in the SEC and No. 22 nationally according to the 247Sports Team Rankings. Not to mention that the Volunteers also added a significant transfer back in late-April in Tyreke Key, a career 14.5 PPG scorer across four seasons at Indiana State.
Overall, Tennessee added some key pieces during the month of May to their 2022 class, as well as started what could end up being a special 2023 class, making the Volunteers a clear recruiting winner this month.