Committed Oliviyah Edwards

[Coach Jumper]

Do any of the other coaches recruit?

I know Kim does g out to meet recruits,,,but not sure if Jenna does

 

[mcannon1]

Vols land 6-foot-3 Edwards, No. 2 recruit in '26

Oliviyah Edwards, the No. 2 player in the 2026 SportsCenter NEXT 100 class, has committed to Tennessee. The 6-foot-3 forward is the highest-rated recruit for the Lady Volunteers since 2019 and the first top-five recruit for coach Kim Caldwell.

www.espn.com

 

[madtownvol]

Huge day indeed and would be equally as huge if #9 Crittendon was to commit as well. However, it’s not CKC first top 5 recruit. Janiah Barker was the #3 recruit out of HS. You can’t talk recruiting without including the transfer portal in this era of collegiate sports.
With the huge commitment of O.Edwards, CKC in two years have added 5 Top 10 recruits in Prawl #6 via 247Sports and Mia Pauldo #9, Wolfenberger #7, Barker #3, and Edwards #2 via ESPN.
More importantly 9 recruits in the Top 30 (Spearman, Cooper, Boyd, and Whitehorn) with a total of 8 McDonald’s AAs.

Edwards is the first top 5 recruit that CKC has signed from a high school class. That is an objective fact but I needed to be more specific in my post. So thanks for the clarification.

I am sure she will have many other top 5 HS recruits in the coming seasons.

It is worth remembering that portal recruiting and HS recruiting are different channels. Hence, teams now get ranked both on their HS recruiting classes and their portal transfer classes. CKC got credit for the Barker signing when she landed, if I recall correctly, the #2 or #3 transfer portal class.

Again, Kellie's Achilles heel was that she could not land top HS recruits though she had pretty good success in the portal., An elite program has to be successful in signing players from both talent pools.

As your post highlights, CKC and her staff are now doing that and I think by all reasonable expectations, at a level that is way ahead of schedule.

 

[lvocd]

Y'all, I'm still afraid I'm having a dream and that I will wake up later and these commitment threads will be gone. I mean, I'd reeeeaaaalllly hoped for the miracle that Edwards would choose Tennessee, but honestly, I thought I was hoping for too much. I kinda thought she would go with South Carolina since they'd been the presumed frontrunner for at least a year.

I am genuinely stunned, and thrilled beyond belief. Our staff is second to none. Wow.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

Stacking talent 🩵. As Overtime Select put it Tennessee is loaded, an objective fact. See slide 2.
GBO

 

[madtownvol]

Y'all, I'm still afraid I'm having a dream and that I will wake up later and these commitment threads will be gone. I mean, I'd reeeeaaaalllly hoped for the miracle that Edwards would choose Tennessee, but honestly, I thought I was hoping for too much. I kinda thought she would go with South Carolina since they'd been the presumed frontrunner for at least a year.

I am genuinely stunned, and thrilled beyond belief. Our staff is second to none. Wow.

As another posted stated up thread, this signing really feels like a game changer. Beating SC to a top recruit they really wanted is noteworthy. It is a signal that the LVs are really back in the game.

 

[CoryDallasLV]

What great news as I watch the Tennessee/Georgia football game!!! I’m late getting on the board today, but this is HUGE!!!

Coach Kim is really doing it on Rocky Top!! I hate to get my hopes up too much, but I think some special times are ahead for our beloved ladies basketball team! I have not been this excited and hopeful for many years.