Lady Vols land transfer guard in East Carolina's Kennedy Fauntleroy

The Lady Vols have landed another transfer and another guard as East Carolina point guard Kennedy Fauntleroy has become the 14th member of Kim Caldwell’s 2026-27 roster. 

Fauntleroy announced her decision on her Instagram page.

The 5-7 Fauntleroy is originally from Maryland and previously played at Arizona State, Oklahoma State, and Georgetown before transferring to East Carolina.

For the Pirates, Fauntleroy was named the American Conference newcomer of the year and the co-defensive player of the year.

In her lone season at East Carolina, she averaged 13.7 points a game, and 3 rebounds. She had 153 assists and 86 steals in the most practice season of her career.

For her career at all of her stops, Fauntleroy has amassed 995 points, 309 rebounds, 306 assists, 200 steals and 42 blocks.

Last week on the Mike Keith Show, Caldwell made it clear she was looking for another ball handler with speed. Since then Caldwell has gotten two in Seton Hall transfer Jada Eads and now Fauntleroy. Eads is coming off an ACL injury.

Tennessee has added seven other transfer guards in Harissoum Coulibaly (Auburn), Avery Mills (Liberty), Kaylene Smikle (Maryland), Rylie Theuerkauf (Georgia), Naomi White (Northern Arizona), Shaelyn Steele (Penn State) and Jada Eads (Seton Hall). The Lady Vols added Zhen Craft (Georgia), Harper Peterson (Stanford) Fatmata Janneh (Texas A&M), Aaliyah Moore (Texas) as front-court players.

Caldwell also has signed two high school players in Georgia forward Gabby Minus and guard Irene Oboavwoduo, who is from England.

The 5-10 Coulibaly started 18 of 31 games at Auburn, averaging 10.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game as a freshman.

The 5-9 Mills averaged 15.3 points this season as a sophomore at Liberty, while shooting 42.7% on 3-pointers. She earned First Team All-Conference honors. She was also named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team in 2024.

Smikle is averaging 17.2 points per game and is shooting 34.9% on 3-pointers in four seasons. The 6-foot guard played two seasons at Rutgers and two at Maryland. Smikle played in only seven games as a senior at Maryland last season before having season-ending surgery, which led to her having another year of eligibility.

Theuerkauf was Georgia’s best 3-point shooter, hitting 71 3-pointers at a 40.6% clip. The 5-9 guard averaged 11.9 points and ended the season on a hot streak. She scored in double-figures in nine of her final 12 games. She had two games with five 3-pointers and at least 20 points in that span.

The 5-9 White was the highest-scoring freshman in Division I last season. She averaged 20.8 points at Northern Arizona. She set school records for single-season scoring with 667 points and 92 3-pointers.

The 5-6 Steele played in 27 games last season, starting eight. She averaged two points a game and three rebounds. Steele also had 31 assists. In two seasons with the Nittany Lions, Steele had 39 steals.

Eads, in 16 games played before her injury, averaged 10.6 points, five rebounds and four assists. As a freshman, Eads averaged 13.8 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Craft is a 6-2 forward who was one of Georgia’s top reserves as a freshman. She played in 27 games with four starts, averaging 15.8 minutes per game. She averaged 5.7 points and 4.2 rebounds.

Janneh, a 6-2 forward from England, averaged just shy of a double-double last season at Texas A&M.

Janneh spent one season at Texas A&M after starting her career at Saint Peter’s. She was a superstar for the Peacocks, averaging 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Janneh led Division I in defensive rebounds that season.

Peterson played in 10 games, logging a total of 37 minutes on the floor last season and she scored a total of 11 points. She was returning from a season-ending injury as a freshman.

Moore missed all of last season, but is a seasoned veteran having been at Texas four years. For her career, she’s averaged 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 89 career games.