Jordan Gainey reveals how he feels about potentially returning to Tennessee for another season
Will guard Jordan Gainey suit up for the Tennessee Vols basketball program in 2025-26? There's hope that Gainey, who used his fourth year of eligibility as a senior at Tennessee this past season, will return to Knoxville for a fifth season in 2025-26. That's dependent, however, on the NCAA passing a rule that allows players […]
Will guard Jordan Gainey suit up for the Tennessee Vols basketball program in 2025-26?
There's hope that Gainey, who used his fourth year of eligibility as a senior at Tennessee this past season, will return to Knoxville for a fifth season in 2025-26.
That's dependent, however, on the NCAA passing a rule that allows players to have five years to play five seasons without taking a redshirt year.
"Obviously, everybody's going to talk about what happens with the five year thing? What does that mean for Gainey or any of the others," said VolQuest's Austin Price earlier this month during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone. "Rick Barnes has been pretty open about the fact that he could see with the House case likely passing, coming up here in a month and a half or so, the scholarship numbers could go from 13 to 15. Well, all of a sudden you're gonna have three (scholarships), potentially, instead of one. And so everybody can start connecting the dots there.
"I don't know if all that happens to the point where Zakai is back, Mashack, [and] Gainey is back. But obviously, Tennessee is going to be very patient. And that's something everybody is monitoring — including people on campus. So we'll see what happens with the five year deal."
Gainey appeared in a video on the TPL Tennessee YouTube channel this week and he confirmed that he'd love to return to Tennessee for another season.
"I've been here for two years, wish I could've been here for four [years]," said Gainey. "To have an opportunity, hopefully, to come back for a third [year], who wouldn't want to be a Vol? I'd love to be back [and] be a Tennessee Vol one more time."
It sounds like Gainey definitely wants to be back. And I'm sure Tennessee certainly wants him back for another year (especially after the way he played last season).
But this is out of Gainey's and Tennessee's hands. We'll have to wait to see what the NCAA, and the pending House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement, has to say about the situation.
