The paperwork is certified, and the initial national evaluations are done. Coach Kim Caldwell and her staff have recruited and signed five high school players in the class of 2025 with one from Tennessee, one from Florida, one from Canada and two from New Jersey.
The early signing period for high school basketball athletes ended Nov. 20, and Tennessee’s five-member class is now ranked No. 1 by 247Sports and No. 2 by ESPN. It marks the first time Tennessee has been ranked in the top two since 2017 when it had ESPN’s No. 1 class.
“I’m really proud of the staff’s hard work,” Caldwell said. “I think that we all came together and learned a lot in a short period of time. We had really great visits that were genuine and authentic, and we were just ourselves.”
Caldwell was hired last April and assembled a staff within a few weeks. She got two assistants, Gabe Lazo and Roman Tubner from the SEC in Mississippi State and Alabama, respectively, because they had an immediate understanding of the recruiting landscape for high school players graduating in 2025. She also added Jenna Burdette, Angel Rizor and Lexi Barrier as assistants since high school and transfer portal recruiting consumes a lot of resources on the road and in the office, and the staff also had to get to work quickly with the current team.
“I think we presented what our culture is in the best way we possibly could, and our staff just did a really good job of hitting the ground running, working and getting out on the road,” Caldwell said. “We had some really good people in (on visits), and the class we signed is terrific. I can’t wait to get to work with them and see what they do together over their four years here. It’s going to be special.”
The five signees, in order of public commitment, are Mia and Mya Pauldo, 5-6 point guard twins from Denville, New Jersey; Deniya Prawl, 6-2 guard/ forward from Toronto, who plays at the IMG Academy in Florida and is the first-ever Canadian player to sign with Tennessee; Jaida Civil, 6-0 guard from Vero Beach, Florida; and Lauren Hurst, 6-3 guard from Cleveland, Tennessee.
“From the time that these five young ladies came on their visits, it just felt right,” Caldwell said. “It felt like they were supposed to play here. They got along with our staff, and they got along with our players really well.”
NASHVILLE PRO BASKETBALL
A earlier column HERE outlined professional basketball coming to Nashville in 2025 and how it would have an orange hue of former Lady Vols in Isabelle Harrison and Jordan Horston. Add another with the signing of Meighan Simmons – see a feature on her HERE – who also will play Athletes Unlimited (AU) Pro Basketball.
The 24-game schedule will be played at Nashville Municipal Auditorium from Feb. 5 to March 2 with doubleheaders on game day. Season tickets are now available HERE.
Simmons, a @LadyVol_Hoops legend, played under the late, great Coach Pat Summit.
She is a two-time SEC Player of the Year award winner. She also is just the fifth UT player to surpass 2,000 points, finishing with 2,064 to finish her career. pic.twitter.com/RQOtQCtlwM
— AU Pro Basketball (@AUProBasketball) November 16, 2024
COURTSIDE CONVERSATIONS
The Lady Vols Boost Her Club continues to offer special events for fans with current players and supports all women’s sports at Tennessee.
“Courtside Conversations” will be held Monday, Dec. 9, from 6:30-8 p.m. at The Walnut Kitchen in Maryville with basketball players Kaniya Boyd, Talaysia Cooper, Sara Puckett and Kaiya Wynn. The players will lead a Q&A panel and also take questions from attendees.
Courtside Conversations
The event will include heavy hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction and giveaway of a team-autographed jersey with automatic entry from each ticket purchased. Tickets are $75 and are available HERE.
Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.
