Tennessee signs 5-star forward Nate Ament to polish up Rick Barnes’ latest class

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee coach Rick Barnes announced the signing of Nate Ament to the 2025 class, making the small forward the third top five prep recruit to sign with the Volunteers.

The forward from Manassas, Virginia, ranked fourth nationally by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals joins Tobias Harris in 2010 and Allan Houston in 1989 in a rare group for Tennessee signees. On3 ranks Ament, the 2024-2025 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year, as the nation’s No. 3 player overall, and Ament already is considered a lottery pick for the 2026 NBA draft.

Barnes, who shut down talk of possible retirement during the NCAA Tournament, said Monday he was ecstatic to welcome Ament to Rocky Top.

Barnes said. “While everyone is aware of just how special a player Nate is, what really drew us to him throughout the recruiting process was the type of person he is. Nate is a high-character, family-oriented young man with a tremendous, caring support system around him who will mesh with our program from day one. He brings a dynamic skill set to the hardwood, embodying the attributes of a modern basketball player.

“Standing out with next-level positional size, he possesses the rare combination of the ability to dribble, pass and shoot with confidence and precision,” Barnes said. “Nate has a strong basketball IQ to go along with an excellent pairing of skill and toughness. He’s the kind of versatile talent who can impact the game in a variety of ways and, in our eyes, he was the No. 1 player in the class. We are thrilled to have him in orange.”

Ament also was a McDonald’s All-American. He also has experience playing for the U.S. national program in the Nike Hoop Summitt on April 12 in Oregon. He was part of the team that won gold in Argentina at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup in June 2024. He also took part in the men’s junior national team minicamp in April 2024.

He had Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville among his final options. He also had offers from Alabama, BYU, Georgetown, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Texas.

Ament joins Troy Henderson, his AAU teammate, in the Vols’ 2025 signee class that includes DeWayne Brown II and Amari Evans. Tennessee also has two transfers signed in Jaylen Carey from Vanderbilt and Ja’Kobi Gillespie from Maryland. ___

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