North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier commits to Tennessee

Mark Pope is still searching for the 12th addition to his debut roster with the Wildcats.

On Friday afternoon, North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier committed to Tennessee, per multiple reports, over a group of finalists that included Kentucky and BYU. Lanier, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, visited all three of his top options earlier this week. He was at BYU over the weekend, Kentucky on Monday, and Tennessee on Wednesday.

Lanier, who has one season of eligibility remaining, did an excellent job of keeping his recruitment tight to the vest. All three schools were at one point viewed as the leader.

But in the end, Tennessee and head coach Rick Barnes got it done. Lanier, who hails from Nashville, figures to be a major contributor to the Volunteers’ roster in 2024-25 as a primary scoring threat. He averaged 19.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on shooting splits of 51/44/88 this past season at North Florida.

NEWS: North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier has committed to Tennessee, he tells @On3sports.

The 6-4 guard averaged 19.7 PPG this season. https://t.co/OnWHI5byEX pic.twitter.com/TYbOu3exaV

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) May 24, 2024

After struggling in his first three college seasons, Lanier’s breakout campaign seemingly came out of nowhere. He was hardly recruited out of high school and barely played as a freshman at North Florida in 2020-21. Lanier was given a larger role as a sophomore and junior, but never averaged more than five points per game.

However, he went from 4.7 points per game as a junior to 19.7 as a senior in ’23-24. Lanier was named ASUN First Team All-Conference as a result. On3 ranked him as the 8th-best prospect to enter the portal this offseason.

During the 2023-24 season, Lanier’s efficiency numbers were through the roof, ranking among the nation’s top 100 players in offensive rating, true shooting percentage, free throw percentage, and three-point percentage, per KenPom. According to Synergy, he was the most efficient scorer in all of college basketball (just a pinch better than Antonio Reeves).

With Lanier off to Rocky Top, Pope still has two scholarships to work with in preparation for his first season leading Kentucky. BYU’s Jaxson Robinson and Miami’s Wooga Poplar are still on the board, as are a handful of possible reclass candidates from the 2025 high school cycle.

Onto the next one…