Tennessee Vols Hang Hat on Specialists, Sign Nation's No. 1 Punter, Matt Darr

Early Wednesday, Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley posted the following to his Twitter account (@DerekDooley):

“Some good news for the VOLS coming soon. Release on its way.” 

Immediately the blogosphere and twitterverse blew up with everything from Bryce Brown rumors to speculation that half of USC’s team was transferring to Tennessee. Of course, neither of those extremes were true. 

When the news that Tennessee had just signed Matt Darr, the No. 1 punting prospect in the country, became known, the fans who had hoped to see an orange and white-clad-Bryce Brown dancing around defenders were somewhat disappointed. Those who had loftier dreams, the ones containing USC QB Mitch Mustain throwing the ball all over Shields-Watkins Field, were utterly dissatisfied. 

Dooley’s “good news” quickly resulted in Tennessee and the coach himself being the butt of jokes. 

Even ESPN’s Pat Forde (@espn4d) deadpanned via tweet:

“The news is: The Vols have signed an elite punter. Not a joke.” 

SI.com’s, Stewart Mandel (@sImandel) tweeted:

“Tennessee finally gets some revenge on Kiffin…by stealing away top-rated punter Matt Darr, a previous USC commit.” 

Even yours truly (@joelabarker) tweeted that big news these days was nothing like big news was in the 90’s. 

Being completely honest about this team, however, one could gather that signing the No. 1 Punter to go along with the No. 1 Kicker, Michael Palardy, (Thanks, Lane), is, in fact, big news for this program. 

To those who still don’t agree: Did you watch the Alabama game last year? 

Tennessee was absolutely horrid on special teams for much of last year. Really, the past four years have been nothing to write home about as far as that unit is concerned. 

Darr originally committed to USC, but left for Fresno State when Pete Carroll left for the NFL. The punter/linebacker was released from his Letter of Intent at Fresno State when former UT coach Lane Kiffin took Fresno State’s Special Teams coach with him to USC.

The 6'2", 215-pounder played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and was selected to the MaxPreps All-America first team. He averaged 42.9 yards per punt with a career long of 71 for Frontier High School in California. Darr had 96 tackles from his linebacker position, 79 of which were solo tackles.

Darr was also a finalist for MaxPreps National Athlete of the Year due to his football efforts and his stellar high school career in track and field.

With two highly touted prospects at two of the key special teams positions, at least there’s one unit on this team that Vols fans can be somewhat confident in. 

Does the kid have a strong leg? Is he accurate? Is he mentally tough enough to kick a football, in a pressure situation, with 100,000-plus people watching? 

The abilities of Palardy and Darr are not in question.

The mental part of their positions will be the biggest obstacle at the college level. 

The bottom line is that Wednesday’s news was not only good, it was great. 

With a stellar kicker and punter heading up the kicking duties, the explosive David Oku (Thanks again, Lane) returning kicks, and the incredibly athletic Janzen Jackson (And another, thank you, Lane) potentially returning punts, the Vols should not lose very many games because of special teams. 

Losing a game due to a special teams gaffe is difficult to take for a coach, team, and a fanbase—especially when that team was equal or better in the other facets of that game. 

Once Vols fans realize this isn’t the 90’s when names like Shuler, Manning, Lewis, and Henry were the norm, they’ll begin to see that names like Darr and Palardy are at least a step in the right direction. 

As the noted college football media outlet, College Football Talk, and avid tweeter, @CFTalk, put it, “Baby steps, y’all. Rocky Top won’t be rebuilt in a day.