Tennessee football’s top 10 in-state players for 2022
Scouting Report. Junior. 6. player. 839. Pick Analysis. Edge rusher. Tyler Baron
6’5″ 260 pounds
One of the most highly touted local players in 2020, Tyler Baron joined Tennessee football out of Knoxville Catholic High School in Knox County, Tenn., and made a solid impact as a rotational player that year with three tackles for a loss, one sack and 21 tackles, 13 of which were solo. A system change didn’t affect him early on.
Baron entered last year as the featured edge rusher, a guy who could play the final end spot in the base defense or move to outside linebacker if Tim Banks switched to a 3-3-5. However, as Byron Young arrived and emerged, Baron saw his role diminish. Roman Harrison’s emergence has added more competition to the position since he’s more experienced.
Anyway, things are a bit different for Baron now, as we would have expected him to be in the top three by this point this time last year. Still, he’s an elite player, and he finished last year with seven tackles for a loss, four sacks, a pass deflection and 30 total tackles, eight of which were solo.
As a result, this guy is still an elite playmaker and shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’ll still be in the edge rusher rotation this year, and look for him to make tons of big plays. Although Young is the star here, Baron, despite a weird offseason where he entered the the transfer portal and returned the next day, is a huge part of that group.