Syracuse Basketball: More Vols buzz for 5-star Brandon Huntley-Hatfield

A Southeastern Conference team appears to be moving out in front in the sweepstakes for Syracuse basketball 2022 five-star target Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, at least according to several recruiting analysts.

The Orange offered a scholarship to the 6-foot-9 Huntley-Hatfield last December, at which time he put the ‘Cuse in his top six, along with Ole Miss, Kansas, Wake Forest, Tennessee and Auburn.

Huntley-Hatfield, a junior at Scotland Campus in Scotland, Pa., had for a while now received a lot of buzz from analysts in the direction of SEC squad Ole Miss.

However, more recently, another SEC group, Tennessee, is picking up predictions from recruiting insiders as it relates to Huntley-Hatfield, who is almost universally deemed the No. 1 power forward in his class, as well as the No. 1 prospect in Pennsylvania and a top-10 player overall in the 2022 cycle.

Huntley-Hatfield is considering a possible reclassify up to the 2021 class, and the Volunteers would be a logical landing spot for him, given that he is originally from Clarksville, Tenn. The Volunteers program has also fared quite well on the recruiting trail of late.

Syracuse basketball, hopefully, can stay in the mix for five-star Brandon Huntley-Hatfield.

Since receiving his offer from the Orange late last year, Huntley-Hatfield has spoken highly of the ‘Cuse coaching staff and the program as whole in a variety of media interviews.

Syracuse basketball, as we recently detailed, is also on a bit of a recruiting roll, and Huntley-Hatfield would be a game-changer for the Orange in either its 2021 or 2022 classes, both of which presently feature a five-star, top-20 prospect in Benny Williams and Kamari Lands, respectively.

In all honesty, though, I’m not getting an overly great vibe about Huntley-Hatfield ultimately suiting up on the Hill, which is a total bummer.

Travis Branham, a national analyst with 247Sports, is the latest recruiting insider to log a prognostication for Huntley-Hatfield to Tennessee, with a high confidence level of nine.

Other analysts on the 247Sports Web site have predicted Huntley-Hatfield to the Volunteers, with high confidence levels as well regarding their picks. The most recent projection on Rivals.com from a recruiting insider also has Huntley-Hatfield headed to Tennessee.

You never know for certain until a high-school player makes his collegiate destination known, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Huntley-Hatfield likely isn’t selecting Syracuse basketball when all is said and done.