On Friday afternoon former Greeneville High School basketball standout Ja’Kobi Gillespie announced on his Instagram account that he was transferring to the University of Tennessee to join coach Rick Barnes’ squad that is coming fresh off an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.
Gillespie played this past season at the University of Maryland where he helped the Terrapins to a 27-9 record and a Sweet 16 appearance. In the final Associated Press Poll of the regular season Maryland was ranked No.11 in the nation.
After the Terrapins were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in an 87-71 loss to Florida head coach Kevin Willard left to take the same position at Villanova. Willard reportedly tried to bring Gillespie with him to Philadelphia, but the Greenevillian instead elected to return home.
Gillespie’s Instagram post was simply an image of him in an orange University of Tennessee uniform with the text, “I’m coming home.”
This season at Maryland Gillespie averaged 14.7 points and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 40.7 percent from three-point range. He scored in double figures 30 times in the Terrapins’ 36 games. He was named third team All-Big Ten.
Gillespie started his college career at Belmont University and spent two seasons in Nashville. In his sophomore season Gillespie averaged 17.2 points, 4.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was named second team All-Missouri Valley Conference and to the conference’s All-Defensive Team.
At Greeneville Gillespie helped the Greeneville Devils to back-to-back state championships in 2021 and 2022. He was named Class 3A’s Mr. Basketball award recipient in 2022, and he left Greeneville as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 2,129 points. As a senior at Greeneville he averaged 27.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.4 assist and 3.0 steals per game. The Tennessee Sports Writers Association twice named him All-State in basketball and once in football.
According to CBS Sports Gillespie was the sixth ranked player in the NCAA Transfer Portal.
The University of Tennessee is expected to stay active in the transfer portal this offseason with up to five scholarship spots still available. The Volunteers went 30-8 this season, advancing to the Elite Eight and SEC Tournament championship game. They finished the regular season ranked No.6 in the AP Poll.
