Tennessee football: Darel Middleton says he’ll play in 2020 and 2021
Senior defensive lineman Darel Middleton won’t leave the Tennessee football Volunteers.
Six seniors up front gives Tennessee football lots of reasons for concern about how to replace so much talent on the defensive line heading into the 2021 season. Well, it looks like they got some help on that front with a Tuesday announcement.
Darel Middleton, a senior defensive lineman who mostly plays the designated defensive tackle spot up front, announced that he would not opt out of 2020 but also said he’d be back in 2021, which means he’ll play both seasons despite being a senior this year. The NCAA recently ruled players would be allowed another year of eligibility due to the pandemic.
A junior college transfer in Tennessee football’s 2019 class, Middleton committed to the Vols from East Mississippi Community College, known as Last Chance U, from Scooba, Miss. and is initially a local product out of Knoxville, Tenn., having attended Oak Ridge High School. He announced his plans on Twitter.
At 6’7″ 305 pounds, Middleton’s height made him an immediate great fit in Jeremy Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme. Derrick Ansley used him to be an imposing presence to allow for his blitz packages to work consistently, and Middleton himself was productive.
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With an appearance in all 13 games last year, including six starts, Middleton had 28 tackles, two tackles for a loss, one sack, a forced fumble, and a blocked kick. He figured to take a major leap forward this year.
Of course, in the offseason he had a legal issue that appears to have been cleared up. His playing time was expected to reduce due to the return of Emmit Gooden from injury, but Gooden has now been dismissed due to an off-the-field issue he had.
That means this year’s rotation will once again consist of Middleton and Aubrey Solomon and defensive tackle, both seniors, Greg Emerson and Kurrott Garland at nose tackle, both redshirt sophomores, and Matthew Butler and LaTrell Bumphus at the defensive end spot, a senior and fifth-year senior respectively. However, players could move around a lot.
Last year, defensive line coach Tracy Rocker had Solomon playing lots of time at end, giving him the entire unit a very imposing presence. Rocker’s replacement, Jimmy Brumbaugh, could easily do the same this year.
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In addition to Middleton, Solomon, Butler and Bumphus, Tennessee football has two more seniors up front in fifth-year senior end Ja’Quain Blakely and senior defensive tackle Savion Williams. What they plan to do remains to be seen, but Middleton’s return will keep up UT’s significant depth on the line in the 2021 season.