Fansided

Darren Kirkland Jr’s return to Tennessee is big lift for Vols and Jeremy Pruitt

By Rucker Haringey

KNOXVILLE, TN - APRIL 21: .Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt leads the team in the Vol Walk prior to the Tennessee spring game on April 21, 2018, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - APRIL 21: .Tennessee Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt leads the team in the Vol Walk prior to the Tennessee spring game on April 21, 2018, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN. (Photo by Bryan Lynn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Jeremy Pruitt needed some good news at Tennessee. Darren Kirkland Jr’s decision to return to the Vols defense certainly qualifies.

Tennessee will need a lot of breaks to enjoy success in Jeremy Pruitt’s first season. Originally, it looked like Darren Kirkland Jr’s decision to leave the program was really going to put the new coach behind the eight ball. Fortunately for the Vols, Kirkland Jr has reversed course and now plans to finish his career in Knoxville.

It’s hard to overstate just how important this will be for Pruitt’s first season as a head coach. He is inheriting a Tennessee team short on both talent and experience. Kirkland Jr’s return will give his defensive unit a boost in both areas.

The talented linebacker missed all of last season due to a knee injury, but he was a Freshman All-SEC selection during his first year under Butch Jones. If he can get back to that level of production, he can provide a big boost to Pruitt’s linebacker corps.

Specifically, he can combine with middle linebacker Colton Jumper to give Pruitt two legitimate leaders in the middle of his defense. It’s hard to win the SEC if you can’t stop the opposition from running the ball up the middle. Players like Jumper, Kirkland Jr. and defensive tackle Shy Tuttle will give Tennessee a chance to hold up at the point of attack against talented SEC offensive lines.

The real question is whether Kirkland Jr. can regain enough mobility to help the Volunteer defense make plays on the edge. Right now, their defense projects to really lack speed on the perimeter. Jumper, for all of his positives, is not fast by SEC linebacker standards. Kirkland Jr. at 100 percent can help stuff the middle and make plays on the outside in pursuit.

The fact that he has two years of eligibility remaining means that he isn’t just a short-term solution for Pruitt. Kirkland Jr. is the kind of talented defender that the new coach can build his scheme around. There are precious few defenders with that sort of ability on Tennessee’s roster at the moment.

Next: The 15 blue bloods of college football

If Pruitt ultimately turns the Tennessee program around, it’s possible that his success in changing Kirkland Jr’s mind about staying in Knoxville will be an underrated, contributing factor. His departure would have left the Vols defense short on talent. His return gives the group a shot at respectability.

Home/College Football