ForumsWith so much going on this week in the world of the University of Tennessee sports, namely football, it would be easy to overlook this story. The men’s basketball team, who has had a rough time of late in its own right, has added a new piece to the puzzle for next year. Coach Pearl’s squad is coming off of a huge win over Auburn last night and after the game, Vol Nation was able to confirm with Jeronne Maymon’s father, that his son was in fact transferring to the University of Tennessee.
“Yes sir, Jeronne will be enrolling at Tennessee and will be a walk-on at the school. He will not be eligible to play until around this time next year since he is a mid-year transfer” said his father, Tim.
Jeronne was part of a furious recruiting battle that included Wisconsin, Marquette, Tennessee and many others during his high school career. After a long and drawn out recruiting battle, Jeronne wound up signing with the local school, Marquette. Upon arriving on campus this past fall, Jeronne never felt right about the way things were going and it showed on the court.
“When they were recruiting him (Jeronne) they told us numerous times that they needed him because he was a big body and they needed someone like him to run the offense through wince they have been so dependent on wing players in recent years. The way it turned out once practice and games started, was a lot different than what we were expecting. Jeronne never got a fair shake and they didn’t use him anywhere close to what they said they had planned for him.”
The 6-foot-6, 250 pounder was being played at the center position at Marquette due to the lack of front court bodies and the necessity to get him in the game. They put him in the game to get him in the game, but center was not where he is comfortable and it didn’t play out the way they felt like it should have, so he decided to leave the program in mid-December.
That brings us to now, where Maymon is now a Tennessee Volunteer that will spend the next year working to stay in shape and finding his place in the Tennessee program. He is the type of player that Coach Pearl has had plenty of success with in recent years and with his size and athleticism he should fit right in at UT.
Maymon was unavailable for comment but his father shared a couple moments with us in order to break down the situation.
“We think this is going to be a good fit for him. The style of play they use under Coach Pearl is the type of game he succeeds in and I think this is a much better situation. Marquette was supposed to be very similar but given a year to find his spot to fit in, we feel like this is going to be a much better fit.”
Maymon was widely considered a top-100 player during his recruitment and was the Wisconsin player of the year both his junior and senior year in high school.
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