As I've been saying throughout much of this series, most of us (including me) were surprised to learn that the RTT official spreadsheetery spit Darren Myles out as the Class of 2009's top recruit. Four stars each from Rivals and Scout, a position ranking of 9th, and an overall recruit ranking of 133rd, while excellent, doesn't seem to measure up to the stars and numbers of RTT#3's Bryce Brown.
What put Darren Myles over the top, though, was that he spurned offers from Alabama, Ohio State, and LSU, which were the top three classes of the season according to both Rivals (Alabama, LSU, Ohio State) and Scout (Ohio State, Alabama, LSU). So when those three schools want you, maybe stars don't mean so much.
Anyway, here's Myles's pre-UT profile:
And yet, Myles made only seven tackles in seven games:
| Games Played |
Tackles | Passes Defended |
||||
| Ast | Solo | Asst Loss |
Solo Loss |
Loss Yds |
||
| 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
So how did Darren Myles basically become The Forgotten Recruit in 2009? Does it mean that he was a bust?
No and no. And one more no just for emphasis. It just means that he was Eric Berry's backup. While we fans were busy watching Berry all season -- so was Myles. In fact, this was the only real look we got at Myles last year:
Poor guy. He spends all of 2009 looking for that one shot, and the announcers get his name wrong. Still, that closing speed is pretty impressive, huh? And I'd prefer a wrap-up tackle to the missile technique, but he got the guy down.
Myles had a good spring for the Vols, even wrestling an interception away from a receiver in the Orange and White Game, right up until the time he was arrested for underage drinking, riding on top of a car in a parking lot, and asking the police why they were arresting him, which the authorities deemed to be "resisting" arrest. In one day, Derek Dooley went from calling Myles one of the "pleasant surprises or things I feel good about in the spring," to saying that he was "disappointed in Darren's behavior."
The prevailing take among Vol fans seems to be that Myles got in trouble for a stupid college kid moment, and that it's not a serious blight to his record. Let's hope, because if he can stay out of trouble, we're going to get to see just how good he is in 2010.