Rick Barnes apparently wasn’t done reconfiguring Tennessee’s roster for the 2021-2022 season. 3-star center Handje Tamba announced via 247 that he committed to Tennessee and is joining the 2021 recruiting class.
Three-star big man, Handje Tamba, has committed to the Tennessee Volunteers and will reclassify to the 2021 class to join the team for this upcoming season, he tells @247Sports. || Story: https://t.co/1Q31prNnxj pic.twitter.com/02EmWEr2J6
— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) July 27, 2021
Tamba is the second player to reclassify and enroll at Tennessee early, joining Brandon Huntley-Hatfield as high-school juniors making the jump to college ball a bit ahead of schedule.
It’s worth noting that Tamba played AAU ball for Bobby Maze’s BMaze Elite team with class of ‘22 commitment BJ Edwards and Huntley-Hatfield.
Per the 247 article, Tamba has been playing competitively for just five years, which means there’s likely to be some... growing pains... en route in Tamba’s development. But, BMaze Elite Head Coach Brett Patterson noted Tamba’s 7-6 wingspan and believes he does well the things required from an SEC post player.
“He’s a tremendous defensive player, he’s a shot-blocker and challenges everything, he can run the floor fantastically,” Patterson said. “He needs to be more polished offensively but that comes from not playing. He has a nice touch with the ball, he hit some threes for us but he didn’t take a whole lot of them.”
Tamba’s addition propelled Tennessee to the second overall spot on 247’s national team rankings. He joins 5-star Huntley-Hatfield, 5-star Kennedy Chandler, 4-star and no. 1 player in North Carolina center Jonas Aidoo, shooting guard from France Quentin Diboundje, 4-star wing Jahmai Mashack and Auburn transfer Justin Powell.
The Vols struggled last season, in part due to a lack of serviceable post players on the roster. It seems like the coaching staff has addressed that issue this offseason as Tennessee’s added three players 6-9 or taller in this recruiting class.