Five-star prospect Nate Ament hypes up former high school teammate following commitment decision

Tennessee signee Nate Ament was elated for his high school teammate Julian Rivera's college decision. The duo played together for the Highland Hawks. Rivera, a 6-foot point guard, announced his commitment news on his Instagram profile on Tuesday.

Ament reshared the post on his story with a five-word reaction to hype up his former teammate.

"Deserves every bit of it," Ament captioned his story with three red heart emojis and tagged Rivera.

Five-star prospect Nate Ament hypes up former high school teammate following commitment decision (Image via Instagram @ament_nate)

Here's the original post by Rivera after he committed to the Gannon Golden Knights.

"10000% committed," the post was captioned.

Nate Ament was the last player from the top 10 rankings to announce his commitment decision to the Tennessee Volunteers.

He announced that we would be announcing his decision after the prestigious McDonald's All-American Game on Apr. 2. However, he later postponed his decision, claiming that he wanted to take some extra time to be completely confident in his decision.

Ament, who ranks fourth nationally, second in the small forward position and first in Virginia (as per On3's Industry Rankings), received offers from 20+ programs across the nation. He announced his final five list of colleges on Feb. 25, with the Arkansas Razorbacks, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals and Tennessee Volunteers making the cut.

However, he signed for Tennessee on Apr. 20 after taking an official visit on Oct. 19 and became the program's 13th McDonald’s All-American signee.

The 2024-25 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year averaged a double double with 19.2 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, to lead the team to a 42-7 record and the VISAA state title.

He also led the Hawks to an 8-0 record in the Virginia Section VISAA Division I Basketball, where they finished second, below Blue Ridge.

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A look at Tennessee's recruits ft. Nate Ament

After their Elite 8 exit from the NCAA Tournament last season, coach Rick Barnes made five additions from the Class of 2025, including Ament. He added four-star shooting guard Amari Evans from OTE and center Dewayne Brown from Hoover High School.

Three-star point guard Troy Henderson from John Marshall and shooting guard Clarence Massamba from The Rock School also joined the program as freshmen as well.

From the transfer portal, they acquired Amaree Abram from Louisiana Tech, Jaylen Carey from Vanderbilt and Ja'Kobi Gillespie from Maryland.