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Tennessee basketball recruiting: Vols offer 4-star Memphis SG for 2020

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. North Carolina won 78-73. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 17: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts in the second half of a game against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 17, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. North Carolina won 78-73. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Rick Barnes is looking towards 2020 for his Tennessee basketball program. The Volunteers offered four-star in-state shooting guard Matthew Murrell Thursday.

Tennessee basketball already has two commitments for 2019, but they are now looking ahead to 2020 when it comes to recruiting under Rick Barnes as well. And the Vols made a major offer on that front this week.

Memphis shooting guard Matthew Murrell announced on Twitter that he received on offer from the Vols Thursday evening. Murrell, a four-star shooting guard out of Memphis, comes from Whitehaven High School and stands at 6’2″ 175 pounds.

By the way, he hasn’t even entered his junior year yet, which shows how impressive that size is. The Vols are the sixth team to offer Murrell, who is also fielding offers from the Florida Gators, Ole Miss Rebels, Iowa State Cyclones, Saint Louis Billikens, and his hometown team, the Memphis Tigers.

Iowa State was the first team to offer him back in January, but Hardaway went after him pretty quickly after taking the Tigers job. The other four offers came over the summer, as more teams began to take notice of his talents.

Given Penny Hardaway’s stature in the city of Memphis, it’ll be hard to lure elite guys like Murrell out of there. But we don’t have any updates yet on his favorite school. So there are still plenty of chance for the Vols to make headway.

Murrell is ranked the No. 104 player nationally, but that could definitely change as time rolls on. He has been rising on people’s lists throughout this summer, so there could be a lot more teams going for him soon enough.

That makes it very important that Barnes was able to offer him now. He’ll want to get a head start in the race to secure the guy. Murrell is also the eighth guy that Tennessee basketball has extended an offer to for 2020, and he’s the sixth guard.

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