My All-Time Favorite Players: 3rd - Admiral Schofield

Admiral Schofield is entering his senior season at Tennessee, after opting not to enter the NBA Draft a year early. He makes up half of the peanut butter and jelly combo, alongside Grant Williams. To say that Admiral is a fan-favorite is an understatement. I am confident that the majority of Vol fans name Admiral their favorite player from the current roster. It helps that he has one of the coolest names in all of college basketball. Scofield was born in London, and his father served as a Senior Chief in the Navy. In addition, his older brother, O’Brien played in the NFL for 7 years, winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks in 2014.

Admiral showed that he could do it all while attending Zion-Benton Township High School in Zion, Illinois. He averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists as a junior, before posting 23 points and 18 rebounds in his final high school game. To cap off a stellar career, he was nominated to the AP Class 4A All-State second team, as well as earning a spot on the McDonald's All-American team. Along with his incredible basketball skills, he played quarterback on the football team and ran track.

Admiral's freshman season was impressive and it made me very very excited about the rest of his career. In his first career start, he scored 16 points on 6-7 shooting, along with 7 rebounds against Butler. In the first SEC game of his career, he posted 22 points, 8 rebounds and a steal at Auburn. He then scored 17 points against Florida and dropped 16 points versus Texas A&M, after making 3 shots from 3-point range. The performances in these 2 games earned him the honor of SEC Freshman of the Week. Later, after a 15-point performance against Arkansas, he logged 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists in the regular season finale versus Ole Miss. In the SEC Tournament, he scored 12 points against Auburn and then grabbed 7 rebounds to go with his 12 points in the victory over Vanderbilt. Throughout Schofield's first year in Knoxville, he played in 18.7 minutes per game (MPG) in 32 games, making 22 starts on the season. He averaged 7.6 PPG and 4 RPG, while connecting on 44.4% of his field goal attempts. Additionally, he led the team with a free-throw percentage of 89.7%.

As a sophomore, Admiral recorded his first career double-double, in an 18-point, 10-rebound performance at Florida. After posting 15 points and 3 assists against Vanderbilt, he scored 15 points and accounted for 7 rebounds in just 17 minutes versus Mississippi State. Then, he followed up a 15-point, 7-rebound outing in the upset against No. 4 Kentucky, he logged 18 points and 7 rebounds, nailing 3 of his 4 attempts from 3-point range at Auburn. In the middle of February, he scored 17 points in consecutive contests, against Kentucky and Missouri. In the Vols' SEC Tournament game, he scored 9 points, corralled 11 rebounds and dished out 3 steals. Schofield played in 19 MPG, averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.4 RPG. He drew 1 start in the 29 games in which he played during the 2016 season.

Last year was the most impressive season he has had with Tennessee, thus far. He wasted no time at all, scoring 22 points in the season's first game, against Presbyterian. His 12 points and 13 rebounds against Furman, were followed up by 16 points, with 4 made 3-pointers versus Arkansas. As the Vols knocked off Kentucky, at home, Schofield stuffed the stat sheet, recording 20 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Then, in my favorite moment of his career, he scored 12 points and grabbed 6 rebounds at Kentucky, throwing down a huge dunk with just 4.1 seconds left, giving Tennessee a 3-point lead. Later, versus Florida, he logged 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. In the following game, at Ole Miss, his career-high of 25 points and a total of 7 rebounds led to him being named SEC Co-Player of the Week. Admiral's 24-point performance at Mississippi State, on 9-18 shooting, along with 7 rebounds, allowed Tennessee basketball social media accounts to humorously advertise Admiral as running for the Governor of Mississippi, as he averaged 24.5 points against Ole Miss and Mississippi State in the same week, with both games coming in the road. He earned another SEC Co-Player of the Week by dropping 23 points in the SEC regular-season title clinching victory over Georgia. He joined the SEC All-Tournament Team, after averaging 17 PPG, 8.3 RPG and 1.3 APG in the SEC Tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, he posted 15 points and 12 rebounds against Wright State, before ending the season with 14 points on 4 made 3-pointers, which tied his career high for most made long-range shots in a game.

Admiral scored 486 points and made 64 3-pointers last year, exceeding his point total and amount of made 3-pointers from his first 2 seasons combined. He averaged 13.9 PPG and led Tennessee with 6.3 RPG, while accumulating 34 total steals. Along with making 39.5% of his 3-point attempts on the season, he scored in double figures in 31 of the Vols' 35 games. Admiral was named to the Second-Team All-SEC. He had the opportunity to enter the NBA Draft a year early, so he worked out for some teams, but did not hire an agent. He decided to return to Rocky Top for his senior year and his experience of working with NBA teams is very valuable.

My favorite moment of his Tennessee career was when Tennessee finally knocked off Kentucky in Rupp Arena. With 4 seconds remaining, after the Vols stole the ball, Schofield threw down a powerful dunk that completely silenced the Kentucky crowd. Obviously, I am ecstatic that he opted not to enter the NBA a year early. He gained so much basketball knowledge by working out with NBA teams, so I believe that he is going to be even better than he was last season. If Tennessee makes it to the Final Four this year, he will be a big reason why. I am very excited to see him on the court again and I believe that with him, Tennessee is very capable of making it to the Final 4. You can trust me. Remember, I predicted the Vols to be ranked 13th last season, and that's where they found themselves in the final set of rankings. Get ready, because Admiral is going to have another dominant season.