Real College Basketball

One of the bright spots this year for the Tennessee recruiting class is a guard from Powder Springs, Georgia. This 6-1 combo guard is multi-talented from his array of showtime pases to his high arcing 3 pointers, this guy is your man. Some call him the best combo guard in Georgia this year. That player, is Trae Golden. The four star recruit compares his game to Deron Williams. When asked about his strengths and weaknesses he said "Strengths are passing, scoring, winning, and making my teammates better," and for weaknesses "None really, working on my defense though."

Last season, Trae averaged 27 points per game, 6 assists per game, and 7 boards per game so you can see Trae consistently effects all aspects of the game. Last season, Trae's high school team, McEachern High School, lost to Walton High School in the state playoffs. Trae says that better things are in store for this season. When Trae was asked about his goals for his senior season, he said "State championship, that is the main goal. Just want to win."

On September 16th, Trae committed to the Tennessee Vols over home town Georgia, and many others. The main reasons Trae chose UT were "They've got a good situation over there, its close to home, I really like Bruce Pearl, and the SEC is the best conference in the world." With the depth that the SEC has this season with Kentucky, Mississippi state, who I love even though they lost to Rider, Tennessee and an underrated group of teams such as Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and South Carolina, the SEC is definitely up there this year as one of the best conferences in all of college basketball.

When asked about him relationship with Coach Pearl, he responded with "It's really good, he's a cool guy." Pearl is an obvious choice as one of the best coaches throughout the college ranks. He has a career record of 416-121, including his 231-46 record at Southern Indiana. At Tennessee, Golden said that Pearl plans to use him as a combo guard but mainly at the point. As for what he plans to accomplish at UT, "National title, just want to win." Last season, the Vols went 19-11 but this season, UT is ranked 11th and is 1-0 this season.

Trae is also helping recruit for Tennessee. "Tobias Harris, he's the main one [I'm trying to recruit]." Tobias would certainly help out the already great UT team and an already above average UT recruiting class. Tobias Harris is currently considering Maryland, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, West Virginia, and Syracuse along with the Vol's and he has no clear leader at the moment. Tobias is set to commit sometime in the next couple of days.

He went on to say that his Letter of Intent has been signed and should be in soon, as of November 12th, but isn't in yet due to complications with his sister. He has talked to Scotty Hopson and thinks he is a really nice guy. Last year as a freshman, Hopson averaged 9.2 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game and in the first UT game of the season, he scored 16 points and collected 4 boards. Hopson was also heavily recruited out of high school including the honors of being a McDonald's All American among others.

I would like to thank Trae for doing this interview with me. Good luck for the rest of your high school season and your college career.