On Tuesday, Jeff Brohm, the football coach at the University of Louisville, and his staff achieved a significant recruiting victory.
Tyler Baron, a former defensive lineman for Tennessee, visited Louisville earlier this month and said on social media that he was shifting his commitment to Louisville to Ole Miss, which he had originally made on December 16 and reiterated last week. According to 247Sports, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Baron has a transfer ranking of 94. He is ranked as the No. 3 edge rusher and the No. 14 overall prospect in the portal rankings.
Baron, a Nashville, Tennessee, native who transferred from Nashville’s Ensworth School to play his senior year at Knoxville Catholic, participated in Senior Day before Tennessee’s victory over Vanderbilt in late November.
After his most successful season at Tennessee, Baron declared shortly after the regular season that he was going to be entering the portal. He committed to Ole Miss without much delay. When he entered the portal, Louisville had reached out, and two weeks prior, Baron had paid him a visit.
Two of his former college teammates, Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald (who had also committed to Ole Miss), were signed by the Cardinals last week. The two athletes started school at U of L last week, but Baron announced on social media that he was in Oxford, Mississippi, roughly a week after the visit.
Baron announced on Tuesday night that he was on his way to the University of Louisiana.
According to the Cardinal Authority, Baron is scheduled to arrive at U of L tomorrow. He is enrolled in school at U of L after receiving acceptance.
In 12 games for the Volunteers in 2023, Baron was a starting defensive end who could also slide inside to defensive tackle in Tennessee’s pass-rush packages. He finished with 28 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, six sacks, two pass breakups, and one fumble recovery. Both his TFL and sack totals were high for his career. According to Pro Football Focus, his 41 quarterback pressures (31 hurries, 4 hits, and 6 sacks) this season rank seventh among SEC edge defenders.
Baron earned SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after recording two sacks against Virginia in the season opener. He continued to accumulate sacks against Austin Peay, UTSA, and Texas A&M. He also played Vanderbilt to commemorate his senior day at Neyland with a sack. In addition to having two tackles for loss against Connecticut, Baron also had TFLs against Kentucky, Missouri, and Georgia. He also recovered a fumble for a touchdown.
Baron recorded 101 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, and 13.5 sacks in 48 games while playing for Tennessee.
As a sophomore in 2021, Baron tallied 30 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and four sacks; in his junior year of 2022, he recorded 22 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. Under Tennessee’s previous coaching staff, the former Top247 prospect also saw rotational snaps as a freshman, collecting 21 tackles, including two tackles for loss in his debut against South Carolina and his first career sack against Florida in 2020.
With his extra season granted by the NCAA, he still has one season of eligibility left. All athletes will receive a free year for the 2020 season, which is affected by the pandemic.
Baron’s father, Patrick Abernathy, served as a player development assistant for eight seasons on the support staff of the Tennessee football team before leaving in late 2021. His older brother, Woody, was a player at Virginia Tech.
Baron was listed as the fourth player in Tennessee and as the 130th overall prospect in the US for the 2020 class.
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