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It wouldn’t be Tennessee football without a little drama.
After announcing his intention to transfer last week, Darrin Kirkland Jr. has changed his mind, according to John Brice of GridIronNow.com.
Would expect formal announcement this week @SEC meetings in Destin, but was told late last night Darrin Kirkland Jr., with his family, met w/ Pruitt & is likely to remain @ UT
— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) May 28, 2018
Kirkland made the announcement via his twitter account. That account appears to have been deleted since.
According to Brice, Kirkland and his family met with Jeremy Pruitt and ironed out some issues. Kirkland was expected to play a big role coming off of a season ending injury in camp last season. He missed most of spring practice, but is expected to be ready to play by the fall.
Kirkland has graduated and would be eligible to play at any school this fall. In his tweet from last week, he said he has two years of eligibility remaining.
Linebacker is one of the few positions where Tennessee is actually set up nicely at. Daniel Bituli returns with Quart’e Sapp. Will Ignont, Shanon Reid and Dillon Bates will provide depth behind them. True freshman J.J. Peterson is expected to give the unit a big bump, too. If Kirkland does return, that’s a clear boost to Tennessee’s depth at the position, which is never a bad thing.
Nothing official has been announced yet. We will update this story as details emerge.