One of Tennessee’s top basketball players this season was recruited by another SEC program to play football
One of the Tennessee Vols’ best players was a multi-sport athlete growing up.
The Tennessee Vols cruised past the Ole Miss Rebels on Tuesday night in Knoxville.
Nate Ament and Ja’Kaboi Gillespie combined for 48 points in the Vols’ 84-66 win.
Gillespie, who totaled 20 points, three rebounds and three assists in the win, has scored at least 20 points in four of his last five games.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie could’ve played college football in the SEC
Gillespie, 6-foot-1/188 pounds, is a good enough athlete that he could’ve also played college football in the SEC.
The Greeneville, Tenn., native joined The Field of 68 after Tennessee’s win Tuesday night and revealed that he had high school offers from Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech to play wide receiver
“I was a receiver and cornerback,” said Gillespie. “But I was recruited as a receiver….I was like a Jerry Jeudy, Justin Jefferson type. I’m that build.
“I didn’t have any (offers) until senior year, and I got Vanderbilt, and then Virginia Tech. And then I kind of had all of the ACC and a lot of SEC schools start following me, but I shut it down because I was already committed to basketball.”
Gillespie started his college basketball career at Belmont before transferring to Maryland and then eventually landing at Tennessee.
Last weekend, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl said that a couple of Tennessee’s players — Jaylen Carey and DeWayne Brown — could be SEC defensive ends.
Maybe Rick Barnes should start doing some football recruiting, too.
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