The Tennessee Volunteers’ Senior EDGE defender and former 4-Star recruit, Tyler Baron, entered the Transfer Portal on December 8, 2023… the first time. Baron’s portal experience has been quite the journey, and as someone trying to figure it out was a tad confusing at first.
Baron’s original Transfer Portal date is correct from what we can tell, and just 8 days later on December 16, 2023 Baron committed to another SEC top dawg in Ole Miss. However, Baron never actually enrolled at Ole Miss. One short month after committing to the Rebels Baron backed out and re-opened his recruitment. Very shortly after, Baron made his commitment to 2023 ACC Runner-Up Louisville.
A commitment to Louisville isn’t as shocking now as it would’ve been a few years ago. Jeff Brohm seems to be building something good down there in Louisville. Unfortunately for Brohm and staff, Baron’s stint didn’t last more than a few months.
Baron missed spring ball for Louisville with a shoulder injury, and on April 23 he left via the portal. Just about a month later, it was announced that Baron would be taking his talents to The U, who have had a pretty strong offseason in the Portal. Baron chose Miami over USC, LSU, and Ole Miss(again).
Baron who stands at 6’5”, 260 lbs is actually a Knoxville native. Baron is coming off his best collegiate season in 2023 for the Vols that included 28 total tackles, 6 sacks, 1 FR, and 2 PDs.
Transferring for your graduate season isn’t uncommon, so despite Baron being a Knoxville native, him entering the Portal we don’t have an issue with. What we do have an issue with is the way that Baron has conducted himself throughout his time in the Portal. Look we get it, a player of Baron’s caliber is going to have a lot of offers from major programs who want him badly, but committing three separate times in the span of half a year isn’t the greatest look in our eyes. Granted, we don’t know much about Baron, so we certainly do not want to make assumptions about him or his character. Just looking from the outside it’s odd to see some switch their commitment 3 times.
For us we view it this way, if I know I’m going to be one of the best names in the Portal and know I’m going to get big time offers all around the country, why am I committing 8 days after entering the Portal? There is, but there isn’t a super rush to have to commit. You should take your time evaluating your offers and decide the best one for you. If Miami’s offer was so good that he plays out his final collegiate season there, what was the point of committing to Ole Miss for a month and teasing Louisville with Spring enrollment?
It’s a little head scratching looking from the outside-in, but in the grand scheme of things we wish Baron nothing but the best down in Miami in 2024 and expect to be talking about him when Draft season rolls around next spring!