BigOrangeBasketball.comTennessee Basketball

In a strange twist of events that only the world of college basketball recruiting can produce, the Vols apparently did sign a marquee power forward from New York today.  It just wasn’t JayVaughn Pinkston.

It is now expected that 6-8, 210-pound five-star power foward Tobias Harris, a consensus top five player nationally, will announce his signing with the basketball Vols Thursday at 6:00 p.m. EST on ESPNU from midtown Manhattan’s ESPN Zone.  It is believed that Harris signed today.  It just won’t be announced until Thursday.

It has been undoubtedly a whirlwind last 24 hours for the Vol coaching staff as the fall signing period came to a close today.

It was widely expected that JayVaughn Pinkston, the No. 7 rated power forward in his own right, would announce the signing of his national letter of intent with the Vols today, but that began to unravel last night when Harris and his family showed up at Thompson-Boling Arena Tuesday night for the UT-UNC-Asheville game.

Harris and family were actually in Atlanta on Monday making their final official visit to Georgia Tech.  Instead of returning to New York as planned on Tuesday, Harris and his parents instead drove to Knoxville for an unofficial visit with the Vols.

By the time Harris’ impromptu visit to Knoxville ended Tuesday night, he had committed to the Vols.  That’s when things began to unravel with Pinkston.

It is unclear whether the Vols rescinded their offer to Pinkston once they had the commitment from Harris or whether Pinkston got cold feet after learning that Harris would become a Vol, but Pinkston abruptly cancelled his scheduled announcement today and said he would not sign until the spring.

My guess is that the Vols would have taken Pinkston and Harris, but that Pinkston got cold feet at the last minute when he learned Harris was coming to Tennessee.  The Vols could still sign him in April.

Nonetheless, the anticipated announcement of Harris’ signing with the Vols tomorrow is huge for Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee program.

If you can compare signings between sports, Harris’ anticipated signing with Tennessee in basketball equates to Peyton Manning’s signing with the Vols in football.  This is most certainly one of the top five signees in the history of the program.  Not since Allan Houston came to UT with his father Wade, have the Vols signed someone with the potential impact that Harris could have.

At 6-8 and 210 pounds, Harris had narrowed his choices to Louisville, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, West Virginia and Tennessee, not exactly college basketball lightweights.  In fact, Harris attended Kentucky’s famed Midnight Madness celebration back in October.

But by all accounts, Harris is a Vol.  It will become official on Thursday.