Nate Ament commits to Tennessee: No. 4 college basketball recruit in 2025 class picks Vols over Kentucky, Duke

Five-star Class of 2025 recruit Nate Ament, the top uncommitted prospect in the national class and one of the most sought after players of the cycle, announced Sunday on social media that he is committed to Rick Barnes and the Tennessee Volunteers. 

Ament chose the Vols over finalists Louisville, Arkansas, Duke and Kentucky, officially ending a high-stakes recruitment that drew out some of the bluest of blue bloods in basketball and giving Tennessee its highest-rated signee in program history.

Ament, the No. 4 overall prospect in his class according to 247Sports, made official visits to Tennessee, Duke, Notre Dame and Kentucky before narrowing his options to five in February. He then made one final trek to Fayetteville in March to see Arkansas before announcing his commitment to Tennessee on Sunday.

His visit to Knoxville, Tennessee, in October was his third of the fall after stops at Texas and Louisville, but Barnes and his staff clearly made a strong impression. He told 247Sports’ Eric Bossi in March that he was especially impressed by Barnes’ track record working with college stars of varying types who went on to have success in the NBA.

“Rick Barnes wants me to come in and take what’s mine,” Ament told Bossi of the Vols. “He wants me to be Naismith Player of the Year and all of that. He’s done it before with Kevin Durant, and he’s had Chaz Lanier and Dalton Knecht, so just tremendous success with individual players. That’s what he’s preaching to me, so it’s very tempting.”

A listed 6-foot-10 power forward weighing in at 185 pounds, Ament is “one of the best long-term prospects in the country,” 247Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein wrote in the summer of 2024. He’s the No. 4 overall player in the Class of 2025 behind a star-studded trio at the top led by Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer.

Here’s more of Finkelstein’s scout of Ament:

He’s an immense talent and still in the early stages of putting it all together. He has good positional size for a face-up forward at over 6-foot-9 with an elastic body type, albeit a relatively modest 6-foot-11 wingspan. He’s a fluid mover, plus athlete, and has tremendous natural hands and touch, which are the foundation of his developing skill-set.

The most glaring limitation in Ament’s game right now is a lack of strength and sheer force. His naturally wiry frame is only just beginning to fill out. He also tends to play a bit upright, raising his center of gravity, which makes it that much easier for him to get bumped or angled off the line of his drive. Right now, Ament can also struggle to finish through contact in a high-level game. Despite that, he shows a real ability to get his own shot off.

What’s glaring about Ament is just how much potential he has to get better. He needs to get stronger, keep getting more aggressive, and polish all aspects of his skill set, but all the tools are in place for him to evolve into a skilled and smooth 6-foot-9-plus perimeter forward who is a true three-range scoring threat. The bottom line on Ament is that there may be some five-star prospects who are more capable of dominating a game today, but he has as high a long-term upside as potentially anyone in the class.

A native of Manassas, Virginia, Ament is a late bloomer who ascended the last two years into one of basketball’s most promising young talents. That rise culminated earlier this month with an appearance in the annual McDonald’s All-American game, where he was initially expected to make his college commitment. He played 21 minutes for the East in a 105-92 loss to the West, turning in 12 points, one assist and one steal.