Tennessee Vols Basketball: Kobe Galesby & Jaylen Carey Transfer Portal Analysis

As college basketball season comes to an end, Tennessee has gotten off to a pretty good start in its roster reset, landing a huge portal target just last weekend

Hey, Lucas Panzeke here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports

So we knew the moment Tennessee season ended in the Elite Eight against Houston that Rick Barnes has a tall task in front of him in resetting this roster with the entire backcourt on the way out

like Zakai Ziegler, Chaz Lanier, Jemai Meshach. Some players returning in the front court

but overall, a lot of work to do. And Tennessee already picked up

its number one portal target last weekend, landing a commitment from Maryland transfer guard

Jacoby Gillespie. Gillespie comes to Tennessee after being Maryland's second lead scorer last season

averaging over 14 points per game, as well as 4.8 assists per game

and shooting over 40% from three. This is a huge acquisition for Rick Barnes and Tennessee as a guy that can slot straight into the lineup as this team's starting point guard next season

And Gillespie has plenty of Tennessee ties. In fact, born in Greenville, Tennessee, went to high school in East Tennessee at Greenville

and started his collegiate career in Nashville playing for the Belmont Bruins, where he was their lead scorer in the 2023-2024 season

I actually got a chance to talk to Belmont head coach Casey Alexander who worked with Gillespie on both of those years and he described him as a wide offensive playmaker So Gillespie is a guy that can immediately come in and change the face of this Tennessee offense The question is how does he adapt to the Rick Barnes style of play especially defensively

which is a question for any transfer coming in. But there's no doubt that was huge news for Tennessee basketball in the very first weekend of the offseason

as the Final Four is going on. And of course, Tennessee did make one more addition, a more familiar face

and former Vanderbilt forward Jalen Carey. That's right. He comes over from that side of the rivalry

and Tennessee fans may remember Carey for what he did against the Vols this past season

Had a double-double in the first matchup against Vanderbilt. The game Tennessee lost at Memorial Gym

and scored 18 points in the second meeting in Knoxville in the matchup that Tennessee won last season

Carey averaged eight points per game over five rebounds per game for Vanderbilt

And suddenly, Tennessee's front court is looking very strong next year with the return of Cade Phillips and J.P. Estrella as well as Felix Okpara

In fact, Jalen Carey had this quote, which Tennessee fans will love

He told it to Ryan Shumpert of Rocky Top Insider. Quote, I'm a Vol now, man. Don't care about no black and gold. I bleed orange now

I don't care about what they've got to say. So Jalen Carey, formerly a James Madison player who followed then James Madison coach Mark Byington to Vanderbilt when Byington took that job

He is now a Tennessee volunteer and he is going out guns blazing

Should be fun when Tennessee and Vandy meet up again. But there's no question

There's more work to do for Rick Barnes and his team. But this was a great start in the transfer portal for Tennessee basketball