Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes (5) dunks over Vanderbilt center Josh Henderson during an NCAA college basketball game in this February photo.KNOXVILLE – The papers were printed and probably lying near the fax machine with a pen not too far away.
Jarnell Stokes couldn’t bring himself to sign them.
“I kept telling myself, ‘Give it another day. Give it another day,'” the Tennessee basketball forward told the Times Free Press inside the lobby of the team offices Saturday morning.
After wrestling with the decision about his future and coming dangerously close to making official his entry into June’s NBA draft, Stokes finally elected to return to Tennessee for his junior season.
A combination of advice from former Vol and budding NBA star Tobias Harris and the sight of a healthy Jeronne Maymon helped sway Stokes to remain in college instead of jumping into the draft, where he said projections had him going outside of the first round.