Lady Vols freshman Jaida Civil (Photo via Ryan Sylvia | RTI)

During Lady Vols basketball’s trip to SEC Media Days last week, senior Janiah Barker gave a shoutout to one of Tennessee’s freshmen. She said everyone will know Jaida Civil’s name this year, despite her not playing a minute of college basketball to this point.

It’s not surprising that Civil is good, she was a McDonald’s All-American after all, but to be garnering this level of praise already is certainly a great sign. On Wednesday, Barker doubled down on her statement, as well. She went into depth on what makes Civil someone that has stood out to this point, as well.

“Honestly, she’s just athletically for her size, for her age, it’s just super natural,” Barker said. “Just her ability to have a motor. Not get tired. To be literally everywhere on the floor at once, it’s really cool to see. And then also her competitive spirit and the way she attacks practice every day. How she just hates losing more than wanting to win is just really beautiful to watch. To see, especially at a young age, to have the passion that she does. I think you’ll be able to see that on the court.”

Civil’s coaches are also well aware of what she brings to the table. Both head coach Kim Caldwell and assistant Gabe Lazo can see the potential she has.

Through her athleticism and improved skills as a basketball player since getting to campus, the excitement around her game is through the roof.

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“Because she’s really good and she’s fearless and she flies around,” Caldwell said. “She is not afraid of anyone, she’ll talk smack with our practice guys, she’ll talk smack with our best players, she doesn’t care. She’s a great human being and she’s going to be really good.”

“She is a high-motor kid,” Lazo said. “Plays with a great energy. Very enthusiastic all the time. Super athletic. But she has grown a lot with her skillset. The staff, Roman, Jenna, Lex, Angel, we have all done a really good job working with her and developing her skillset. To get her to be more of a skilled player. The way that we play really fits her and super excited, man.”

Civil admitted hearing this from seniors and coaches does mean a lot to her. She said she would ‘never expect for any of the seniors to speak so highly’ of her, but that it just shows that they believe in her as much as she believes in them.

What she credits the praise for is her energy at practice. She’s always pushing her teammates, even if they’re much more experienced basketball players. That all stems from her competitive nature.

She’s the perfect fit for Caldwell’s system, too. With supreme athleticism, she has the potential to be a menace in the press that’s consistently forcing turnovers. She’s used to playing like this, as well. Her high school team implemented some of Caldwell’s philosophies after seeing her practices in person a year ago.

“Tennessee was definitely different from everybody else because of their playstyle,” Civil said. “The playstyle that they ran is actually something that my coach ended up implementing after we came here on an unofficial and just saw how they practice. After that, I already knew that the playstyle is basically the same thing. I might as well come here.”

Tennessee begins its gauntlet of an out-of-conference schedule in a top-10 clash against NC State in Greensboro. Then, things cool down a bit, before more ranked foes appear on the non-conference slate and the SEC schedule gets underway.