Breaking: Tennessee lands Top-60 senior Jahmai Mashack

Over the past three recruiting cycles, Tennessee has been able to lure in at least one of the program’s top targets. This cycle, the program landed arguably its top-rated target in the nation’s No. 1 guard Kennedy Chandler. Another priority for Rick Barnes in the 2021 class is but now was Jahmai Mashack.

Mashack has told Stockrisers.com that his recruitment is shut down and he is officially committed to the University of Tennessee.

He chose the Volunteers over Arizona, Arkansas,  Cal, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Despite never officially dropping his list or cutting down to any programs, these are the schools that he chose from including Tennessee.

“I had a lot of really great programs talking to me so it was hard. But Coach Schwartz and I hit it off right away. Then meeting all the other coaches took it to another level. Coach Barnes is tough but can also laugh and have fun. He was very clear about what he saw in me and had a plan for taking my game to the next level. Every coach on staff was awesome,” Mashack told Stockrisers.com.

Like I mentioned earlier, Barnes and his staff have put together quite the roster in Knoxville. For 2020 he enrolled three five-star prospects in Jaden Springer, Keon Johnson, and Corey Walker. Prior to that, he brought in five-star Josiah James who enrolled in 2019.

Now, Barnes has five-star Kennedy Chandler and Mashack who is a consensus Top-60 prospect in the 2021 class.

“Man, they are stacked with talent. Some people wouldn't want to go to a school with a lot of good players but I love it. I look forward to competing in practice because that's just my personality. I feel like that makes me better. Plus, they have a bunch of guys who are already on draft boards. So, playing with other great guys is a positive thing for me.”

It has been publicly known that Tennessee has become one of the more popular programs amongst top-rated recruits. They’ve sent guys to the NBA, have had winning seasons, and most recently has had a stretch as a Top-rated team in America, but was it the success that differentiated the Vols from Mashack’s other offers? No, it was UT’s brotherhood.

“Definitely the culture. I'm a big family guy. So, if I was going to go away for college I definitely wanted to go where it felt like a brotherhood or like a family. Tennessee is like that. Also, talking to other players really helped me finalize my decision. When former players and current players talk about how great their experiences are, that means a lot. They all said that it's bigger than basketball.”