Look: Freddie Dilione arrives at Tennessee, joins Vols as early enrollee

Freddie Dilione has arrived at Tennessee to officially start his career with the Vols. The 2023 four-star shooting guard got to Knoxville on Friday and was on the floor at Thompson-Boling Arena in sweats on Saturday morning, getting up shots before No. 5 Tennessee hosts Kentucky.

The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Dilione, who was a senior at Word of God Christian Academy in Fayetteville, N.C., was ranked as the No. 43 overall player in the 2023 class. He sit out the remainder of this season, practicing with the Vols and getting a head start on the 2023-24 season.

Freddie Dilione is here. pic.twitter.com/4GIjWTkHR9

— @GrantRamey (@GrantRamey) January 14, 2023

Dilione explained the decision to enroll early in an Instagram post:

I have decided to enroll at the University of Tennessee for the Spring semester, where I’ll redshirt while preparing for the 2023-24 season.

This was not an easy decision to reach, but I would like to thank my family, the Tennessee coaching staff, and Coach Byron and the Word of God coaches and staff for their guidance and wisdom. Over time, it became clear that this is the best step for me to take as I work towards fulfilling my dream of playing basketball at the highest level.

I would also like thank all of my teammates, friends and fans for their support and encouragement.

I am looking forward to arriving in Knoxville in a few weeks and beginning the next chapter of my journey on and off the court.

Go Big Orange! 

Freddie Dilione 

Rick Barnes: ‘We’re excited about him getting here’

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes earlier this month discussed the decision made by Dilione to enroll early.

“Freddie decided he wanted to get here as early as he could,” Barnes said. “We’ll get him here and we’ll get him, I don’t know how long it will really take him to get to practice with us, but we’ll get him going in school, get him going that way.”

Barnes confirmed that Dilione will not play this season. Instead he’ll start out working with Tennessee’s scout team and get an early start in strength coach Garrett Medenwald’s strength and nutrition program.

“Garrett will start his deal with him, helping his body, nutrition, all that coming together,” Barnes said. “But he’ll be in practice. How much he does, he’ll probably start out really helping our scout team. And as he continues to learn our system here, it’s going to be great for us and it’s going to be great for him. We’re excited about it.”

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Dilione committed to Tennessee in September, picking the Vols over Wake Forest, VCU and Virginia. The Vols had talks with Dilione and his family about reclassifying and joining the program before the season, but they opted to stay put at the time.

“We had talked about, he had a chance he could possibly come this year if he wanted to,” Barnes said. “But he decided, the family decided, they wanted to go to school and go from there. I think he’s had a good experience, but just in his mind, where he is right now, he and his family decided it would be better that they get here and get going. We’re excited about it.

“We’re fortunate we have a scholarship, it worked out well that way. We’re excited about it. And we’re fortunate we have a scholarship. So that worked out well that way. We’re excited about him getting here.”