CLASS ACTS
Point guard Lamonte Turner signed officially as part of Tennessee basketball’s 2015 class, but he’ll be a de facto part of the 2016 class after sitting out this season while ineligible. Here are the five players in Tennessee’s 2016 signing class.PG Jordan Bone (Nashville)PF John Fulkerson (Kingsport, Tenn.)SF Jalen Johnson (High Point, N.C.)SG Kwe Parker (High Point, N.C.)SF Grant Williams (Charlotte, N.C.)
KNOXVILLE - If Lamonte Turner plays basketball half as well as he dresses for games, Tennessee will be getting a pretty good player when the guard becomes eligible next season.
The hopes of the Volunteers' coaching staff already are pretty high.
The fifth and final member of Rick Barnes' first signing class at Tennessee was forced to sit out this season after he was denied clearance by the NCAA Eligibiliy Center after reclassifying to the 2015 class, but the expectation is Turner will be a key piece for the Vols next season.
"He's helped us this year," Barnes said earlier this week. "I think he's helped Kevin (Punter) a lot in practice, Kevin having to guard him. Lamonte's learning our system, which is going to help him going forward. He's going to be a terrific player.
"I don't think there's any question when you work as hard as he works - and he is a guy that loves being in there and wants to be coached - he's one of those guys that you love. When you tell him to do something and you walk out of the gym, he's going to do what you tell him.
"He's been a really nice addition to us. Obviously we wish he were playing, but the fact is he's helped us in his own way, just by what he's done in practice. Going forward, you talk about the ceiling, he's one of those guys with these other young guys that we're expecting to be the guys that are going to lead the way going forward."
Turner was a borderline top-50 recruit nationally in the 2016 class, but his desire to come to Tennessee prompted the late decision to reclassify and head to college a year early.
The academic ramifications complicated the 6-foot-1, 190-pound point guard's process of arriving in Tennessee, as did his journeyman route to college basketball.
In 2012-13 he played at Sparkman High School in his hometown of Harvest, Ala., and averaged 13 points, 5.5 rebounds and four assists per game. He transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla., the following year and then enrolled at IMG Academy in Florida in 2014 and decided to reclassify the following April.
He didn't enroll in classes in Knoxville until mid-August. One month later he was ruled ineligible. Two appeals were unsuccessful.
In an interview in October Turner admitted awaiting word on his eligibility was the hardest part of that process, but he calmly took the decision and decided to make the most of this year.
"It was pretty tough," he said. "It was kind of disappointing. I've just got to look at it as a year to get better and help my teammates get better and get ready for (next) season."
For Turner, every practice is like a game. Shadowing Punter, the Vols' leading scorer whom they must replace after this season, should only help his development. He's a scoring point guard who must improve on defense, as is the case with most young players.
"I can't play when my teammates are getting ready to play," Turner said, "so I have to go two times harder and try to get better every day in practice and compete hard."
"As a point guard, I feel like if my teammates are not getting better, then I'm not a good point guard."
Sitting out an entire season is daunting for a young player, but Turner seems to be making the most of it.
"He's struggled a little bit, but I don't think he ever struggled on the court, because he loves basketball," Barnes said. "You can tell he just loves it. I don't think it's easy for what he's had to go through, but like I tell him every day, every day he's getting closer and closer to being eligible.
"When the season's over, he's just like those (other freshmen) getting ready for next year."
Barnes insists Turner would have helped this year's team, and the Vols are eager to see what he will do next season.
"Lamonte works tremendously hard," freshman guard Shembari Phillips said after Tuesday's win against Auburn. "This offseason that he's having right now, he's making the best of it and (getting) the most out of it. He's in the gym working and getting better every day.
"He's going to be tough to guard next year, and he's going to be big for us next year."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfree press.com.