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Tennessee Lady Vols tied for lead in top 100 commits for 2021

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 2: Cheerleaders of the Tennessee Volunteers pregame against the Kentucky Wildcats in a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 2, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 2: Cheerleaders of the Tennessee Volunteers pregame against the Kentucky Wildcats in a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 2, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Lady Vols now have three top 100 commitments for 2021.

Don’t sleep on the talent Kellie Harper is bringing in to the Tennessee Lady Vols next year. After the women’s basketball Volunteers lost two elite combo guards in Zaay Green and Jazmine Massengill to transfer, concern began to arise about Harper’s ability to reload the cupboard.

Well, she’s got everybody else coming back, and she is now beginning to really put together a class for 2021. Over the weekend, UT received a commitment from Alabama forward Sara Puckett, a four-star on ESPNW out of Muscle Shoals High School.

At 6’2″, Puckett is the No. 11 ranked forward in the nation and gives UT its third commitment, all of whom are top 100 players, joining five-star guard Kaiya Wynn and five-star forward Karoline Striplen. Puckett announced her commitment to the Tennessee Lady Vols on Twitter.

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Now, here’s where the real story kicks in. Rocky Top is one of only four women’s basketball schools that currently have three top 100 players committed. The other three are the UConn Huskies, the Syracuse Orange and the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Of those three, only UConn has two five-stars committed.  Syracuse and West Virginia each have one along with two four-stars. As a result, at this moment, UConn is the only school that definitively has a better recruiting class than the Lady Vols.

However, Maria M. Cornelius of GoVols247 has reported that Puckett’s ratings are likely to rise after this coming year. Should that happen, then UT could be in serious contention for the No. 1 class in the nation.

Right now, UT is pursuing the sister of Tamari Key, 2021 five-star wing Teonni Key. Given the connections, Harper should have an in. But that gives her another advantage due to a connection as well.

Saniya Rivers has been a teammate of Key’s on the Carolina Flames AAU team. Rivers is a five-star guard as well for 2021 and is being pursued heavily by Rocky Top. Don’t be shocked if she follows Key there, particularly with a desire she expressed last year in an ESPN article to be able to beat UConn. If you carry that type of hatred for the Huskies, Tennessee may be your place.

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Harper and the Tennessee Lady Vols are also pursuing five-star guard Morasha Wiggins and four-star guard Jasmine Shavers. Simply put, they aren’t done on the trail, but she already has a top-five caliber class as one of only two schools with both three top 100 commitments and two five-stars. And she is in great position to add more top prospects to make this class legendary.