Tennessee football suffered a major blow Tuesday. Jeremy Pruitt confirmed Volunteers linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. and tight end James Brown are retiring.
After numerous questions surrounding their status, Tennessee football finally got answers to the futures of Darrin Kirkland Jr. and James Brown Tuesday. And the news wasn’t good for either of them or for the Vols.
Both players are giving up the sport after suffering numerous injuries. Kirkland, who would have been entering his redshirt senior season, notably missed part of 2016 and all of 2017 before dealing with an injury this spring. Brown, who would have been a redshirt sophomore, has had two shoulder surgeries and never played a down on Rocky Top.
Jimmy Hyams of WNML tweeted out the news that both are giving up football. Jeremy Pruitt was the one to initially confirm it, and he also said that Kirkland is pursuing his master’s degree and will spend the summer working on a business internship in Washington, D.C.
Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said TE James Brown and LB Darrin Kirkland have given up football. Brown will take medical hardship. Kirkland has graduated. Pruitt said recently on WNML that Kirkland likely would not return.
— Jimmy Hyams (@JimmyHyams) May 28, 2019
Kirkland is the more notable loss for Tennessee football. Despite battling injuries, when he did play, he was always a very valuable contributor. That dates all the way back to his freshman year in 2015.
That season, Kirkland replaced Colton Jumper early on as the starter at middle linebacker and became an All-SEC selection. Throughout his career, when he was healthy, he was the glue at linebacker for the Vols.
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Given Kirkland’s photographic memory, he was brilliant at picking up schemes very fast. That allowed him to help the unit pick up Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme during the transition last year. As a result, he will be severely missed.
Without him, the Vols will likely turn to Will Ignont, Shanon Reid or Solon Page III to start alongside Daniel Bituli at inside linebacker. JJ Peterson, Quavaris Crouch and Henry To’oto’o could all be in the running to start at the position too.
Obviously, things are different at outside linebacker with Darrell Taylor firmly supplanted as one starter and Deandre Johnson, Kivon Bennett and Jordan Allen all in the rotation on the other side. So that position is set.
However, all of the inside linebackers have a bit of an uphill climb to match Kirkland’s production. Even as injuries began to slow him down, Kirkland was always in the right position to make plays, and he made a few of them last year as well. If he could have stayed healthy, he would have been an elite linebacker. His injury is sad for him and Tennessee football.