Last week, Tennessee announced that guard Chris Darrington was electing to transfer after the conclusion of the spring semester at the University of Tennessee. Now Darrington has decided where he’s transferring.
According to a press release, Darrington will be heading back home to Toledo to play for the Rockets. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Darrington will have to sit out the upcoming 2018-19 season and won’t be eligible to play until the 2019-20 season. Darrington didn’t graduate while at Tennessee, so he’s not a grad transfer.
“We’re really excited to welcome Chris home,” Toledo head coach Tod Kowalczyk said of Darrington via a press release. “He can impact our program much more than just on the floor, though, because he means so much to the Toledo community.”
Darrington is a native of Toledo and played for Scott High School before heading to Vincennes University in Indiana for junior college. Darrington was a first-team All-Ohio selection his senior season at Scott, and he played two years at Vincennes before transferring to Tennessee.
In his lone season with the Vols, Darrington averaged 8.4 minutes, 2.6 points, and shot 36.5 percent from the field. He was used more in the beginning of the season, averaging 12.8 minutes, 4.4 points, and 1.3 assists in the Vols’ first 13 games of the year. But his production dropped off significantly once the SEC schedule got underway, only scoring seven points in the Vols’ final 22 games. And he only appeared in 12 of those games.
“We appreciate all of Chris’ contributions both on and off the court this past year,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said via a release last week. “We all wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
The Vols have two scholarships they can hand out before the beginning of the 2018-19 season with the transfer of Darrington and the departure of fellow guard James Daniel III. So far, Tennessee has not signed an incoming freshman to their 2018 recruiting class nor have they added a transfer player themselves.
