Tennessee Basketball five-star recruit Kennedy Chandler discusses transfer

Tennesse Basketball target, five-star Kennedy Chandler, discussed his decision to transfer and the recruiting process with 92.9 FM ESPN out of Memphis.

While Tennessee football is getting all of the hype on social media for having built the current-No. 2 recruiting class in the country, Tennessee basketball is also building solid recruiting classes like the 2020 class.

Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson are two players who have signed with Tennessee that are a part of the 2020 class, and they have been ranked the No. 3 and No. 4 highest-rated recruit all-time for Tennessee basketball. They sit behind Scotty Hopson and Tobias Harris.

But for the 2021 class, five-star point guard Kennedy Chandler out of Memphis is high on Tennessee’s interest list. He’s the No. 21 overall player, No. 1 point guard, and the No. 2 player in Tennessee.

Chandler announced his top five teams last month, and Tennessee made the shortlist with Memphis, Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky, and he touched on the recruiting process amid COVID-19 with 92.9 FM.

"“For me, it’s a hard time right now because I’m just getting Zoom calls from coaches, coaches calling me and texting me,” he said. “I can’t really make a decision or go further because I really want to take my officials and get to campuses and stuff, to all five schools.“So I’m waiting to see if that can happen for me.”"

Before the Zoom calls, Chandler did take a visit to Tennessee’s campus during his Junior season before everything shut down, and he also discussed his relationship with Tennessee’s staff.

"“Tennessee, I have a great relationship with them,” Chandler told 92.9 FM in Memphis when he announced his top five. “Coach (Kim) English and Coach Rick Barnes. I had a great time when I went down there on my official visit. Just the atmosphere down there was crazy. I could see myself playing for the team.”"

He’s spent his previous high school basketball seasons at Briarcrest Christian but is now transferring to Sunrise Christian Academy for his senior season. He said that moving to Sunrise makes it easier when it comes to his AAU team.

"“Sunrise, it’s just close to my AAU team, Mokan,” Chandler said. “It’s family all around there. I know some kids that go to Sunrise. And the coaching staff is really great. I feel like for me to go to Sunrise, they’re going to push me every day in practice and push me to be a better player.”“At the end of the day, I know that for me to go to Sunrise, they’re going to help me to get better every day and for me to achieve my dreams,” Chandler said. “I knew it was the best fit for me.”"

Chandler has also been spending some time working out with professional athletes with the likes of Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant, so Tennessee could fall to the second-best option for Chandler if he wants to stay in Memphis to keep working with Morant.

As we begin to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel in the state of Tennessee, hopefully, everything will open up, and Chandler can go through the full recruiting process this summer and fall, so Rick Barnes can prove that Tennessee is Chandler’s best option.