Tennessee basketball: Myth of Yves Pons grows before Vols debut

Tennessee basketball players call him Tarzan.

Some say the chiseled 18-year-old never lifted a weight until he joined the Vols. Fans saw him leap from just inside the foul line for a dunk last week. And his French accent makes him seem even more mysterious.

Yves Pons (pronounced Eve Pawns) sounds more like a mythical figure than a freshman small forward.

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At SEC men's basketball media day on Wednesday, UT players playfully reinforced the legend of Pons while coach Rick Barnes dumped a little cold water on the tall tales.

“He has like 2 percent body fat, like a Greek god,” UT sophomore forward Grant Williams said.

“He is a freak,” junior forward Admiral Schofield added. “I’ve never been around an athlete like that.”

Last week, Barnes said Pons had never lifted weights before. On Wednesday, Williams said, “that’s not right. He lifted a little bit.”

But then Schofield disputed his teammate’s dismissal of the tall tale.

“Oh, it’s very true,” Schofield said. “When he first got here, it was kind of shocking because he didn’t know how to even curl. It was the weirdest thing. The guy was just naturally cut up and naturally built. The guy is a freak athlete.”

Expectations for freshman year

Pons undoubtedly is a good player. He signed with UT over the offseason as a four-star prospect. But his background, eye-popping dunks and intriguing storylines have made him more interesting than most lauded freshmen.

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Originally from Haiti, Pons was one of the top international players in the FIBA World Championships while playing for the U-17 French team. His skills are raw and his body looks to be NBA-ready.

At last week’s Rocky Top Tip-Off event, Pons had two big dunks to catch the crowd’s attention. Once he leaped over three young fans for a two-handed jam. And then he took off just inside the foul line for a one-handed dunk.

“Well, he’s got to do that dunking in a game, when he’s being guarded,” Barnes said. “That’s when you can get excited about it.”

Barnes knows high-flying dunks and quirky stories will only get Pons so far. The Vols need him to contribute, especially because they were picked 13th among 14 teams in the SEC preseason media poll. That progress may take some time for the freshman.

“But the fact is Yves is a hard worker. He makes no excuses,” Barnes said. “Like any freshman, it is going to take some time for him figure it all out. But it’s not going to be because of his lack of effort or his lack of want-to. He’s making strides, and we expect him to really help us this year.”

Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.