'16 TN ATH Darel Middleton (Tennessee signee)

#1,551
#1,551
Biopsyman said:
Might be record for UT for Juco's and Grad Transfers...Tell me that the roster is a steaming pile overall
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Idk if I agree. I doubt they’re trying to sneak Middleton into this class thinking he contributes much this year.

Taking this guys is like George, IMO. They need some more bodies and think both have the upside to be good players in a year or two.

It might speak more to how they feel about the 2019 class and how it will turn out for us. We’re basically borrowing a spot away from the 2019 class to bring him in.
 
#1,552
#1,552
volfanngatorland said:
That’s a lot of holes to fill. QB, RB, TE, DT, DE, LB, CB are the Jucos/Grad transfers we’ve taken.
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Don't forget OL. But I do agree with the logic that if Pruitt didn't think he could win why bother with all these. Also it seems like a higher than normal portion of the jucos have 3 years to play. I think Middleton and if I remember right Jahmir Johnson, Jordan Allen and Kenneth George all have 3 years to play right?
 
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#1,553
#1,553
Darth_Shiveman said:
Idk if I agree. I doubt they’re trying to sneak Middleton into this class thinking he contributes much this year.

Taking this guys is like George, IMO. They need some more bodies and think both have the upside to be good players in a year or two.

It might speak more to how they feel about the 2019 class and how it will turn out for us. We’re basically borrowing a spot away from the 2019 class to bring him in.
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We have had a lot of gaps in the OL and DL that can’t wait for younger players to get stronger
 
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#1,554
#1,554
Biopsyman said:
The point is when you rely heavily on Juco and grad transfer your roster is not good. Pruitt also said when he started that the team was very small. All the guys he brought in from the Juco route are big dudes..
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Alabama get JUCO's all the time. Their roster is pretty damn good....how many JUCO's do we have? People act like we took 15-20 this cycle.
 
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#1,555
#1,555
volfanngatorland said:
That’s a lot of holes to fill. QB, RB, TE, DT, DE, LB, CB are the Jucos/Grad transfers we’ve taken.
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The TE and DL are the only ones that I think will get significant playing time. The rest is for depth. Lost Dormady after coaching change. Lost Kelly to draft and couldn't recruit a second RB. Lost Gaulden to draft and missed on high level CB's.

I guess you are considering Allen as a LB in the 3-4, but our true returning LB's will be starting.
 
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#1,556
#1,556
Darth_Shiveman said:
Idk if I agree. I doubt they’re trying to sneak Middleton into this class thinking he contributes much this year.

Taking this guys is like George, IMO. They need some more bodies and think both have the upside to be good players in a year or two.

It might speak more to how they feel about the 2019 class and how it will turn out for us. We’re basically borrowing a spot away from the 2019 class to bring him in.
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This guy seems like he could contribute right away but I agree with what you are saying.
 
#1,557
#1,557
Sleegro said:
Don't forget OL. But I do agree with the logic that if Pruitt didn't think he could win why bother with all these. Also it seems like a higher than normal portion of the jucos have 3 years to play. I think Middleton and if I remember right Jahmir Johnson, Jordan Allen and Kenneth George all have 3 years to play right?
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True, forgot about Johnson. Good catch.

That’s a whole lot of Jucos/Grad transfers
 
#1,558
#1,558
VolGee4 said:
The TE and DL are the only ones that I think will get significant playing time. The rest is for depth. Lost Dormady after coaching change. Lost Kelly to draft and couldn't recruit a second RB. Lost Gaulden to draft and missed on high level CB's.

I guess you are considering Allen as a LB in the 3-4, but our true returning LB's will be starting.
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Yeah, im considering Allen a LB in this scheme. I’m not sure he starts but I’m expecting him to contribute quite a bit. That’s my hope at least.
 
#1,559
#1,559
So does this mean he will play in Scooba this year? That would make it his first year of eligibility if he did not play at the other juco. Then he would have 3 to play 3 and enroll next year?
 
#1,560
#1,560
bignewt said:
So does this mean he will play in Scooba this year? That would make it his first year of eligibility if he did not play at the other juco. Then he would have 3 to play 3 and enroll next year?
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I read it as he will be here in the summer, but you might be right. Hopefully he’s eligible this year as we could use the bodies.
 
#1,561
#1,561
bignewt said:
So does this mean he will play in Scooba this year? That would make it his first year of eligibility if he did not play at the other juco. Then he would have 3 to play 3 and enroll next year?
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The way I read it he played at Miss Gulf in 2016 transferred to East Miss and sat out 2017 to try to graduate so he could play here in 2018. It's not very clear though but I think they expect him in the fall with 3 years to play.
 
#1,562
#1,562
I remember watching this kid when he played at Oak Ridge. He was a freak of nature athlete and when he wanted to no one could stop him. They split him out wide a lot at receiver. Had a friend on the Oak Ridge Staff at the time and said the only thing that could stop Darel was Darel. He had some attitude issues but when he wanted to he couldn’t be stopped. Hopefully he has straightened up because he can be a really big help to this team.
 
#1,563
#1,563
Sleegro said:
This guy seems like he could contribute right away but I agree with what you are saying.
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Hard to bank on a kid playing right away when it reads like he hasn't played in 2yrs. Comes off to me like taking a high risk/high reward guy that you might can pull now to enroll with not much efforttime put into recruitment. If you wait you still prob get him but use up more time as he will be more heavily recruited than today. Pruitt also prob rather get his hands in him now to keep his head on straight than risk the likelihood he doesn't like ole buddy Stevens one day lol
 
#1,564
#1,564
Biopsyman said:
We have had a lot of gaps in the OL and DL that can’t wait for younger players to get stronger
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I agree with this line of thinking, for the most part. I do think DL is much deeper than the OL right now. The DL has plenty of upperclassmen and at least a few newcomers and younger guys with some promise. It seems like they should at least be able to scrape together a middle of the road DL with what we have in 2018. OL is most likely in for a rough year one unless absolutely no one gets injured.


The 2019 outlook is pretty much the opposite, though, IMO. OL should bring pretty much everybody back and Friend has a great history developing OLs. On the DL, we’ll lose at least 4 guys who project to be in the two deep in 2018. Maybe the coaches are thinking more towards 2019 than this season with Middleton. Idk. I doubt he comes in this season and does much besides maybe get some ST action trying to block kicks.
 
#1,565
#1,565
Darth_Shiveman said:
I agree with this line of thinking, for the most part. I do think DL is much deeper than the OL right now. The DL has plenty of upperclassmen and at least a few newcomers and younger guys with some promise. It seems like they should at least be able to scrape together a middle of the road DL with what we have in 2018. OL is most likely in for a rough year one unless absolutely no one gets injured.


The 2019 outlook is pretty much the opposite, though, IMO. OL should bring pretty much everybody back and Friend has a great history developing OLs. On the DL, we’ll lose at least 4 guys who project to be in the two deep in 2018. Maybe the coaches are thinking more towards 2019 than this season with Middleton. Idk. I doubt he comes in this season and does much besides maybe get some ST action trying to block kicks.
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Yep need DL bad for 2019.
 
#1,569
#1,569
Nashvegas31 said:
Hard to bank on a kid playing right away when it reads like he hasn't played in 2yrs. Comes off to me like taking a high risk/high reward guy that you might can pull now to enroll with not much efforttime put into recruitment. If you wait you still prob get him but use up more time as he will be more heavily recruited than today. Pruitt also prob rather get his hands in him now to keep his head on straight than risk the likelihood he doesn't like ole buddy Stevens one day lol
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Yeah I agree, I was just saying from a physical and athletic standpoint they might could find some packages for him.
 
#1,572
#1,572
bignewt said:
So he will be playing in Scooba this year.
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sounds like it. that kinda sucks. but not the end of the world. just could use some more bodies on either side of the LOS now.

if he's going to stay on the defensive side of the ball, it's probably a good thing he's in the 2019 class.
 
#1,573
#1,573
bignewt said:
So he will be playing in Scooba this year.
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Looks like it but technically any new commit will count towards 2019 even if they play this year. But I don't think he would've tweeted that if he didn't mean that he's coming next fall instead of this fall.
 
#1,574
#1,574
from everything I've heard from people around the program, Pruitt is the kind of guy who will demand the right attitude. I'd imagine that he's set expectations pretty clear for recruits & players alike. If he accepts a commitment I'm sure he's done his due diligence and made things very clear where he stands on off the field/attitude issues.

Personally, pretty pumped for the pickup. Darel and Emmit are two TN guys who probably could've been top 25 national kids had they put in the initial work, especially in the classroom. Sky's the limit but will they do what it takes to stay on the field? With Pruitt as HC, my bet is yes.

Huge pickup if things work out.
 
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