The Vols picked up two commitments on Wednesday, and the second came late at night and from a familiar face.
Darel Middleton committed to Tennessee back in May of 2013, nearly five years ago, when he was a freshman at Powell High School. He would eventually decommit from the Vols in January of 2015, but he announced on his Twitter account late Wednesday night that he was, once again, committing to Tennessee.
God is good.& when they say be Patient and let him do his job. Let him. He’s great at it. I have Committed to The University of Tennessee!! pic.twitter.com/BlszmGeQxJ
— BigTimeRel__ (@Darel__) April 5, 2018
Middleton, now a JUCO prospect, has moved around a great deal during his prep and JUCO career. He began at Powell but moved to Oak Ridge High School for the remainder of his high school career. Out of high school, Middleton originally signed on to play for Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, but he spent just a year there and didn’t play a down of football for them. Now he’s at East Mississippi Community College, and he wants to continue his career in big time college athletics at Tennessee after the 2018 season.
Coming out of high school, Middleton was rated by 247Sports as a four-star tight end/defensive end prospect. He was the No. 307 overall player and No. 9 player in the state of Tennessee by the normal 247Sports rankings, and he was the No. 570 overall player and 14-best player in the state according to the composite rankings.
Right now, Middleton isn’t rated in the JUCO ranks. Tennessee is his only known offer at this time, but while in high school he had offers from Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, Ole Miss, Louisville, South Carolina, and others.
According to a report from 247Sports, teams like Auburn, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State have expressed interest in Middleton ever since he enrolled in Est Mississippi in January. The report also states that Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff are making sure Middleton’s grades will check out. It’s unclear at this time when Middleton will graduate and join Tennessee.
There isn’t any film on Middleton in the JUCO ranks yet since he’s yet to play, but the 6-foot-7, 290 pound lineman has highlights from his senior season at Oak Ridge. Even back then, Middleton had superb athleticism for his size, and he was able to harass quarterbacks and chase down offensive players. It will be interesting to see how the added weight to his huge frame has changed his game, but that athleticism is likely still there, and he can probably play multiple positions on the line now thanks to that size.
Tennessee now has five commitments in their 2019 class. Middleton joined three-star defensive tackle LeDarrius Cox in committing to the Vols on Wednesday, and those two joined high three-star tight end Jackson Lowe, four-star athlete Te’Cory Couch, and four-star offensive lineman Jackson Lampley.
