Tennessee loses another recruit

The first of the now-former Bruce Pearl coaching staff to land another job was Steve Forbes, an assistant with Tennessee.

He landed at Northwest Florida State College, a JuCo.

On Wednesday, Forbes was in Memphis as Chris Jones, a top 50 point guard and Tennessee-signee, looks to be headed to NFSC, according to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal (Jones is a Memphis native):

[Q]uestions remained whether Jones would qualify academically to play at Tennessee.

Johnson said Jones, who attended two prep schools in North Carolina last season before re-enrolling at Melrose last month, would benefit from playing under Forbes at Northwest Florida, formely known as Okaloosa-Walton Community College. Forbes was heavily involved in Tennessee's recruitment of Jones.

"He can concentrate on getting better mentally and physically," Johnson said.

Jones is now the of the two top 50 recruits that Pearl had signed at Tennessee to leave. Kevin Ware is off to Central Florida.

Cuonzo Martin had initially convinced Jones to honor his LOI, but it appears that the coach that had recruited him to Knoxville (Forbes) was able to bring him to Florida.

The question now is whether this will affect the decisions of Tobias Harris and Scotty Hopson to stay in the NBA Draft. Tennessee loses five seniors this season, and while they do return some talent for next season -- Cam Tatum, Trae Golden, Skylar McBee -- the Vols' season hinges on whether or not those two return to school.