The most recent Tennessee freshman basketball players to arrive in Knoxville might just as well be named "Felix," and "Oscar," for they are quite the odd couple as far as suitemates go.
Forwards Emmanuel Negedu and Renaldo Woolridge have been sharing space - and appreciably different personalities and backgrounds - since enrolling at UT the second term of summer school in early July.
Negedu, who hails from Kaduna, Nigeria, was raised in barracks as his father served as a Nigerian soldier. A soccer player since he could walk, Negedu didn't start playing organized basketball until he was 15 and didn't like it until he discovered the joy of dunking.
Woolridge, from North Hollywood, Calif., and the son of former NBA great and WNBA coach Orlando Woolridge, was born to play basketball. He attended Harvard-Westlake, one of the most prestigious high schools in Southern California, and has started his own record label.
"We both feel foreign here in a way,'' the well-spoken Woolridge said. "He's literally foreign, and for me it (Tennessee) is a whole different culture, so we can relate to the same issues.
"Once we step on the same court, though, we really share the same thing.''
Negedu, discovered at an NBA-sponsored camp in Africa, speaks in somewhat broken English, though clearly intelligent. Negedu left Nigeria for New Hampshire his high school years, attending the highly acclaimed Brewster Academy prep school.
Negedu unleashed a deep, reverberating laugh when asked about the differences he saw in Woolridge the first few days they were paired at UT.
"Renaldo always wears shoes with lots of colors, or ice cream shoes,'' Negedu said. "He also has those small, tight shirts and California clothes.''
Woolridge chuckled at his suitemate's observations before being asked about Negedu's telling characteristics.
"The main thing is that accent; it's real thick and real loud,'' Woolridge said. "I can tell when he's on the phone in the room next to me. One time he showed me a tribal outfit he wears; I was confused because it looked like a robe.
"I think one of the reasons we get along is we have the same goofy personalities.''
Their playing style is as different as their backgrounds.
Woolridge is a svelte 6-foot-8, 215-pounder who plays with grace, knifing in to grab rebounds and shooting from the outside with a soft touch.
Negedu impresses with athleticism: At 6-7 and 231 pounds, he runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash, has a 40-inch vertical leap and an 84-inch wingspan.
Woolridge, second to commit among UT's six newcomers, was excited about Negedu's recruitment, even though they'll compete for playing time in a roundabout way.
"We'd gotten to know each other on the AAU circuit and get along real,'' Woolridge said. "We play the same position on paper, but he's more of a 'rip-the-rim-off' when he dunks guy, and I shoot the outside shot.''
Neither player enrolled in time to play in the Pilot Rocky Top League this summer, but both found ways to improve their games.
Negedu played five games in the (Washington) D.C. Summer League with teammate Bobby Maze, along with NBA players Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley.
Woolridge went to Houston, where he played and trained with his father.
Daniel West, an incoming freshman from Sagniaw, Mich., who is the suitemate of Scotty Hopson, of Hopkinsville, Ky., said Woolridge and Negedu definitely assume the crown of odd couple.
"Those two are just crazy together,'' West said. "They go at it, but in a real good way.''
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Comments » 35
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Hope they both stick with the Vols. They sound like the type of players that can advance and stablize a program.
Not to mention, of course, good size and ability is never a bad thing to have!
BSweet writes:
Holy phooey! Maybe Fulmer should talk Pearl into letting him try Negedu out for football! With that size and a 4.4/40, he could be a beast of a defensive end, assuming of course he could learn the technique. But he didn't start BB until 15 and look how good he is at that. And before people start taking me seriously about him playing FB, I get that he is a BB player. But I do start to wonder what kind of talent could be found for FB overseas. Maybe Negedu has some equally physically gifted relatives that would like to learn the game.
Jamey1210 writes:
Love to see that man at TE or DE man that is sick that type of 40 and wing span. Can you imagine them hand up in the air? O or D He may have picked the wrong sport. Welll maybe not pearl did recruit him.
jclowers writes:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves with wanting a basketball player to play football...remember Stanley Asumnu.
Plus he may think that he is playing the other type of football out there.
newtonrail writes:
Stanley probably could have played football----given the time to develop. He didn't have the time left.
MidTennVol writes:
What a pair...makes me want to giggle with excitement about their futures at UT. Interchangeable at the 3 and 4 spots. Wow.
Interesting that BP allows freshmen to talk with the media and Fulmer doesn't.
oldorange writes:
Basketball is sure going to be interesting this year.
txvolsfan writes:
Love to see this kind of team unity. Pearl seems to instill into all of his guys that it is a team sport and these guys seem to get it.
GO VOLS
TXVOLSFAN
ladivolfan writes:
Excellent article - can't wait to see these guys on the court.
WVVOLFAN writes:
68 days until it's BB time in TN
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Gen W -Dupree could teach them to ride a yellow Moped with a mop bucket on their head.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
If both these guys stay healthy and keep their heads on straight, the Vols will be too tough for words this year. One or both would be penciled in as immediate starters almost anywhere else in the country, but we will have the luxury of bringing them off the bench. Their competition for playing time will keep our starters from getting too comfortable and the increased competition in practice will make everyone better. Our second five will be a better team than the vast majority of our starting teams in the past 30 years! They could BE the starting five at more than half of the other SEC schools THIS year! There's never been a better time to be a Vol BB fan!
GoVol writes:
It's FOOTBALL time in TENNESSEE - who cares, right now. I'll care in December abou BB.
miamiVOL writes:
these are NOT dual sport athletes, these are BASKETBALL players...
Bruce Pearl's system depends on athletic swingmen like Negedu, Hopson, and Wooldridge, i am very excited to see them in action!!
richvol writes:
Forget TE or DE...what a wide receiver he would make. Who could cover him?
cdonsbach writes:
Can't wait to cheer for you, dudes!
GO VOLS!
THE_VOL writes:
GoVol: Why are you gonna wait til December to care about BB? Football will be over Sept 20!
The rest of you morons need to get a grip. The kid has never even played a down of football and you idiots have him an AA at about 3 positions! Too damned funny! Besides IF he would happen to have any football talent FOOLmer couldn't recognize it anyway!
Everybody better remember these are freshmen - which means some good things and some not so good things!!!
nicksjuzunk#646117 writes:
"Hi Negedu, this is called a football. Just run down yonder toward that there big fork in the middle of the grass and I'm gonna toss it to you." - How It's Done, by Nicksjuzunk
overatedvols writes:
So you've turned an article about two players on the basketball team into a 'what if they played football"? They should have gone to Memphis to be part of a national championship with fans that appreciate them for what they are.
Jan. 24th TBA.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
Yeah, how stupid of you guys to sit here and imagine how good Negedu could be a football based on his physical stats! Good thing the THE_VOL was here to chastise you for it. Man, all of y'all are so stupid except for THE_VOL. Seriously though THE_VOL, I appreciate the inside information you provide during BB season, but I think you need to get a grip. No one is trying to put the kid on the plane to LA and suit him up for Monday's game.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
Overated-
Part of a Jayhawk championship?
How's the football team looking over there at Tiger High Overated? Funny that y'all's best player will be that beat-down Auburn reject, Furr.
volboy81#211803 writes:
what are the odds of Nigeria and California meeting, right here in the Hills of Tennessee!
GO VOLS!
DoWhatNow writes:
"At 6-7 and 231 pounds, he runs a 4.4-second 40-yard dash, has a 40-inch vertical leap and an 84-inch wingspan"
Holy moley. How does he feel about football?
IBleedOrange444 writes:
ItchyPuzzy-
You been hittin' ol' Billy G's 'shine again?
Outcoach and outwork everyone else? Well, except maybe Gardner Webb and San Deigo... but everyone else... well maybe not UT either, but he's pulling in great recruits... well they're still sporting geranimals undies and sleeping with night lights, but they're gonna be stars one day!
longtimefan writes:
Overate, This is for you: THUMBS IN EARS-PALMS OPEN-FINGERS FLAPPIN- TONGUE OUT- NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA!!!!!!!!!! Talk all you want, but Tennesse is now the Best Basketball team in the state! Get used to being second fiddle! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
miamiVOL writes:
CatScratchFever, lemme put you in your place
First off, Donald Williams is a 3 star recruit who is 6'4 IN SHOES, so hes about 6'3.
Also, 2008 Houston Kingwood Classic MVP Was Tyler Haws not D.Williams
WVVOLFAN writes:
Go Vol, then stop reading BB posts.
Overrated. Can't wait until the 24th. Bring it on!
scratch: i musta missed this. Is Williams out of grade school yet?
Go Vols!
WVVOLFAN writes:
biddy league? come on scratch, what's the poop? middle school yet? say what you will UK is never gone to live down the cradle robbing tag BG has given you.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
ItchyPuzzy-
The only reason y'all made the tourney last year was b/c of your tradition and you got busted out in the 1st round. UK stunk last year and you know it. IMO, y'all signed your own death warrant when y'all ran Tubby out of town. BIG MISTSAKE!! Get used to losing to the Big Orange in everything.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
Whatever ItchyPuzzy. He'll have to prove it on the court to convince this Johnny-Come-Lately Vol fan. Enjoy your 3-star MVP of the Woody's Hardware Store 3 on 3 B-Ball Summer Jam Classic. It won't be long before he's getting embarassed on the hardwood by the Big Orange.
gohawks1 writes:
Negedu: 6-7, 231 pounds, and runs a 4.4 40
Can he catch a football too?
WVVOLFAN writes:
good comeback scratch. took a lot of thought. kinda reminds me of schoolyard humor. oh, i would guess that is exactly where it came from. lol.
Colliervol writes:
Overrated, so Negedu should have come to Memphis for a national championship? No offense but he'd have looked a bit odd in those Pom outfits. Just a bit tight I'm thinking.
Catscratch, how old is this Williams kid? Surely, he's at least 9 by now.
Colliervol writes:
Which troll? There are so many that need to get run.
TheAgentOrange writes:
Thank God for basketball seaon down the road, footbal team is going to be miserable.
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