Jalen Cone schedules official visit with Tennessee, talks with Virginia Tech

Tennessee went in-home with four-star guard Jalen Cone over the weekend, now it’s time for Cone to return the favor. The Vols’ main target to potentially replace Jordan Bone will take an official visit to Tennessee on May 10th, according to Jake Weingarten of Stock Risers.

As mentioned, Tennessee met with Cone over the weekend in North Carolina, pitching him on the idea of reclassifying and walking into some immediate big minutes for the Vols in 2019-20. Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Ole Miss and Providence have each offered the same situation.

Mike Young and his entire staff at Virginia Tech conducted their in-home visit on Monday with Cone, per Weingarten. Cone also picked up a new 2020 offer from Boston College.

Cone, a current class of 2020 prospect, ranks as the 82nd player overall, according to the 247 Sports Composite rankings. The 5-11, 166 pound point guard has averaged just shy of 30 points and six assists per game in the past two seasons of high school ball.

He told Rivals over the weekend that Tennessee is pitching him on the idea helping replace Bone, in the event that Bone stays in the 2019 NBA Draft. Rick Barnes will return Lamonte Turner at the point guard position next season for sure, but doesn’t have much true depth at the position as things stand today. Cone would fix that problem, while giving Tennessee a future option as well.

It’s been fairly quiet outside of Cone on the 2019 front as Tennessee awaits final decisions from Bone and Grant Williams. If they strike out with Cone, the grad-transfer route makes a lot of sense as the staff simply tries to fill minutes fairly late in the process. It also would leave the Vols with an immediate need in the backcourt for 2020 and beyond.