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Another former Tennessee Volunteer has found a home elsewhere this offseason. Corey Walker, a former high four-star prospect, has landed with South Florida today.
South Carolina transfer Jayln McCreary has committed to South Florida, per his Twitter page. Bulls also landed Tennessee transfer Corey Walker.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 18, 2021
Walker opted to leave the Tennessee program after failing to find the floor during his freshman season. Injuries put Walker behind early on, and the 6-8 forward was never able to catch up. A battle with COVID didn’t help matters.
He joined Drew Pember, Davonte Gaines and E.J. Anosike in the transfer portal, as Rick Barnes rebuilt the backend of his roster from the ground up.
Walker was the 81st-ranked prospect in the 2020 class, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Tennessee still has two open scholarships remaining, but Barnes seems content with what he’s got for now. The Volunteers were able to bolster their frontcourt with five-star power forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and four-star center Jonas Aidoo. They were also able to add Auburn sharpshooter Justin Powell and french guard Quentin Diboundje, while keeping veteran forward John Fulkerson around for one more season.
Clearly, Barnes wasn’t happy with the development of the back half of his roster. He probably had some tough conversations this offseason, but this roster feels more balanced because of those moves.
As for South Florida, they get a potential steal here in Walker if he can live up to his billing as a prospect. We’ll see if he can take advantage of his clean slate in Tampa.