With all the focus on the more than 2,000 Division I players in the transfer portal, it’s easy to forget that there are still a handful of really good high school prospects who are making their final decisions.
It’s unusual for a five-star’s announcement to come in late April, but that’s exactly what happened last week when Nate Ament, a 6-foot-9 small forward from Virginia who is ranked No. 4 in the 247Sports Composite, committed to Tennessee over finalists Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisville. That made Ament the Volunteers’ highest-rated recruit ever, and it immediately positioned the program as a legitimate contender in the SEC next season.
“What stood out about his game more than anything was his versatility, competitive spirit and the way he’s built. The way people always tried to go at him and it didn’t faze him at all,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes told Hoops HQ. “His overall demeanor is just really impressive. And the fact that he’s always trying to figure out how to get better. He never changed from the first time I spoke to him until the end. Being highly recruited, it never fazed him. Not one thing changed about him.”
The 18-year-old was one of the last players in his class to commit. It’s a huge win for Barnes, who has been gradually rebuilding his roster over the past month. Most of Tennessee’s top contributors from the 2024-25 campaign have exhausted their eligibility, including program stalwart Zakai Zeigler, leading scorer Chaz Lanier, sixth man Jordan Gainey and starting forwards Jahmai Mashack and Igor Milicic Jr.
Ament raises the ceiling for the 2025-26 Volunteers considerably. As a projected top five pick in the 2026 NBA draft, he was drawn to Tennessee in part because Barnes previously coached one-and-done superstar Kevin Durant at Texas. Durant was named Naismith Player of the Year in his sole season with the Longhorns (2006-07) — one of just four freshmen ever to win the award. With his unique combination of size, ball-handling and elite shot-making, Ament has already garnered comparisons to KD.
“I’ve never gotten into comparing players side by side, but the similarity would be their mental approaches,” Barnes said. “I’ve said before that Kevin Durant is one of the all-time great teammates — a guy who knows that he has great God-given ability and he wants to take it and get the most out of it. That’s very similar to the way I look at Nate.”
Ament starred on the adidas 3SSB circuit last summer, averaging 15.4 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the field, 42 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line. He is coming off a senior season in which he led Highland School to a 42-8 record and the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division I state title with averages of 19.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists. “I would say he’s one of the higher ceiling prospects in his class because of his skill level/shooting at his size,” one NBA scout texted Hoops HQ about Ament. “He needs to get much stronger, struggles with physicality. He might have the highest range of outcomes of next year’s class. If he figures it out, he will be a top five pick. I could also see him struggling to get a lot of minutes at UT, where they value toughness/defense.”
While Ament needs to improve physically as he transitions to the college level (right now, he weighs just 185 pounds), Barnes clearly envisions his prized recruit playing a major role next season. “I think he’ll get so much better (defensively) as he continues to grow into his body,” Barnes said. “He knows how to use his length. It’s going to be fun just watching him develop the way he does things because he’s highly motivated. He just wants to be the best version of Nate Ament that he can be. He’s so unselfish, so humble, and I think that’s what it takes to be great.”
Offensively, Ament will give Tennessee a much-needed boost. With Zeigler, Lanier and Gainey graduating, the Vols have been in search of perimeter scorers and playmakers to pair with a group of solid returners in the frontcourt: 6-foot-11 junior center Felix Okpara, 6-foot-11 sophomore forward J.P. Estrella and 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Cade Phillips. Tennessee is one of just three DI programs (Duke and Boston University are the others) that didn’t lose a single scholarship player to the portal this offseason.
At the same time, Barnes and his staff have made some quality additions via the portal, signing 6-foot-1 junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie from Maryland and 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Jaylen Carey from Vanderbilt. A third team All-Big Ten selection, Gillespie averaged 14.7 points, 4.8 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 40.7 percent from three for the Terrapins. In one season with the Commodores, Carey averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.7 minutes off the bench.
Ament should slide into the starting lineup on the wing. He may not be as polished as former go-to scoring options like Lanier and Dalton Knecht, but with his versatility, Ament is capable of being the centerpiece of Tennessee’s offense. “What you love about (Nate’s) game is, yeah, he can shoot, but he’s going to be in situations where he’s going to draw double teams and things like that and he’s such a good passer too,” Barnes said. “He makes the right play. He has the ability to do it in a lot of different ways. He’s got a variety of shots in his game. I think he’s a really good finisher, he shoots it, he handles it, but I think he’s a guy who loves playmaking as much as he likes to do anything else.”
Barnes is wary of not putting Ament in a box and pictures the dynamic forward doing a mix of everything, from pushing the ball up the floor off rebounds to operating out of pick-and-rolls to isolating in various spots on the court.
Tennessee is not done building around its new core. Barnes is still looking to add one or two more perimeter players, preferably who shoot it well from behind the arc. “We’ve been very, very selective because of wanting to put together not just a team but a locker room — a group of guys who all have one thing in common and that’s to win,” said Barnes. “That’s why Nate was so important to us. Throughout the recruiting process, getting to know him and the other guys we’ve gotten, that was the thing they talked about.”
