Former Ohio State center Felix Okpara has found a new home, committing on Thursday to Tennessee after two seasons with the Buckeyes. The news was first reported by Joe Tipton of On3 Sports.
Okpara, who has two years of college eligibility left, transferred from Ohio State on Sunday despite saying earlier this month that he was “100% committed” to the Jake Diebler-led program. Things then moved quickly for the Lagos, Nigeria, native, as he took a visit to Tennessee just three days after entering the portal on Wednesday and committed one day later.
Okpara, who started all but one game for Ohio State at center and averaged 5.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game across his two seasons in Columbus, joins a Rick Barnes-led Volunteers program that is coming off a successful 2023-24 campaign in which it reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed and earned the SEC regular season title with a 14-4 conference record.
Tennessee has lost its two leading rebounders this offseason, with forward Jonas Aidoo entering the transfer portal and guard Josiah-Jordan James exhausting all his collegiate eligibility last season — not to mention leading scorer and Wooden Award finalist Dalton Knecht also graduating — making the addition of the 6-foot-10 Okpara a welcome sight for the Volunteers as they look to make the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season.
