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After earlier announcing his intent to transfer, Darrin Kirkland Jr. has changed his mind. After Kirkland met with his family and head coach Jeremy Pruitt, he decided to stay at Tennessee. Retaining Kirkland was huge for Pruitt. Without Kirkland, there was a huge hole in the middle of UT’s defense.
Kirkland has been hobbled by injuries throughout his career. Last year, he redshirted after getting injured in the preseason. He will have two years of eligibility left to learn Pruitt’s 3-4 defense. This scheme could benefit Kirkland as he has the sideline-to-sideline speed that Pruitt covets. Keeping Kirkland also creates more depth at linebacker. Quart’e Sapp was expected to take over for Kirkland. Now he will have more time to learn the defense. Sapp took valuable reps with the first team defense in spring practice. If an injury does occur at linebacker, Tennessee has a player with first team experience. With Bituli and Kirkland sitting out this spring, Sapp learned Mike linebacker, where he set up the defense
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Kirkland has been hobbled by injuries throughout his career. Last year, he redshirted after getting injured in the preseason. He will have two years of eligibility left to learn Pruitt’s 3-4 defense. This scheme could benefit Kirkland as he has the sideline-to-sideline speed that Pruitt covets. Keeping Kirkland also creates more depth at linebacker. Quart’e Sapp was expected to take over for Kirkland. Now he will have more time to learn the defense. Sapp took valuable reps with the first team defense in spring practice. If an injury does occur at linebacker, Tennessee has a player with first team experience. With Bituli and Kirkland sitting out this spring, Sapp learned Mike linebacker, where he set up the defense
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