UT grooming trio of freshmen

With a 13-woman roster and six returning true sophomores, Lady Vol head coach Pat Summitt signed just three freshmen for the 2009-2010 season.

The small rookie group is making Faith Dupree feel like the middle child.

“Kamiko (Williams) is way to the right and Taber (Spani) is way to the left, and I’m in the middle,” Dupree said. “I kind of see a bunch of different personalities in us three. Kamiko keeps me entertained, and Taber keeps us in line.”

Dupree, Taber Spani and Kamiko Williams join the Lady Vols who want to rebound after what Spani called a “rebuilding season.”

Summitt said the freshmen won’t just sit on the bench.

“To speak to the freshmen in particular, I think they can get some playing time, and they can help us,” Summitt said.

Dupree, who played with Lady Vol sophomore Glory Johnson at Webb School of Knoxville for three years during high school, comes to UT as a likely bench player at the forward and center positions behind redshirt sophomore Kelley Cain.

At Webb, Dupree averaged 16.7 points per game while pulling down 7.4 rebounds, capitalizing on her scoring ability under the basket.

“Shooting is definitely my best (skill),” Dupree said.

Spani is UT’s first player from Missouri. As a home-schooled high school player, Spani was named the Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year during her senior season.

Spani was also the first player in girls’ high school basketball history to finish in the top 10 for her career in points and in rebounding.

The McDonald’s All-American said she has long desired to be a Lady Vol.

“For me, it was the chance to play for Coach Summitt,” Spani said. “I want to win national championships. That’s what I want to do, and that’s what I want to be a part of. So I love the chance I have to do that this year.”

The freshman guard comes from a long line of athletic family members.

Her grandfather, Frosty Westering, is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Spani’s father, Gary, played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs for 10 years and currently holds the record for all-time leading tackler in team history.

While she acknowledged her athletic talent, Spani said she wants more than anything to give quality effort.

“Like Coach Summitt says, you have to work hard every day and be busting your tail on every play,” Spani said. “So I try to bring that hard-working mentality all the time.”

Fellow freshman Williams knows all about that hard-work mentality. For the rookie guard, hard work has been the most noticeable difference from high school to college.

“Coming from high school, where you don’t have to do anything, to now, you having to play hard all the time and push yourself and have people push you, I love it, I really do,” Williams said. “It brings out the best in me.”

Williams hails from Clarksville, Tenn., and has been following Lady Vol basketball since she was 9 years old.

But before she made her long-desired commitment to Tennessee last season, Williams built up a resume at Northeast High School that included two All-State nods in 2007 and 2009, a 22.5 points-per-game average her senior year and a starting spot on the 2008 GA/LINA 76ers Nike elite team.

Summitt said that once Williams gets into the swing of things, she can make an impact for UT.

“She’s a typical freshman, and she’s giving into fatigue,” Summitt said. “She’s got a chance to be a special guard. Of all of our guards, she does as good a job as any of them at getting to the paint.

“I’m hoping it happens sooner rather than later.”