Even if you’ve committed initially, it seems like the transfer portal never stops these days. Just like in the traditional recruitment realm, you see flips and decommitments on a daily basis these days. Tyler Baron, who switched his commitment from Ole Miss to Louisville this week, has demonstrated that.
Given that Tamarion McDonald and Wesley Walker, two of his former teammates, have already committed to the Cardinals, the move isn’t entirely unexpected. McDonald switched to Louisville after first committing to Ole Miss.
Baron just had a breakthrough season with Tennessee, assembling all the necessary components to create a formidable pass rush with James Pearce. At the end of the 2023 season, he had 10.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. Now, the 6-5, 250-pound defender will play his last season with the Cardinals, who just finished second in the ACC with a 10-4 record.
According to 247Sports, Baron was once a four-star prospect who is ranked just outside of the top 100 players in the class of 2020. Tyre West filled in for him during Tennessee’s Citrous Bowl victory over Iowa. Looking ahead to 2024, we should expect more of that from the former four-star prospect.
Tyler Baron, a former edge rusher for the Tennessee Volunteers, declared on social media on Tuesday that he was abandoning his pledge to play for the Ole Miss Rebels and would instead like to join the Louisville Cardinals.
Baron attended Tennessee for the previous four years, but following his senior year, he used the transfer portal in December. On December 16, he declared his commitment to Ole Miss.
Baron allegedly visited Louisville last week despite his pledge, and on Tuesday he declared he will be joining the Cardinals in 2024.
After the end of the 2023 campaign, he becomes the third player to transfer from Tennessee to Louisville. The other two are defensive backs Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald, the latter of whom had a prior commitment to the Rebels.
Baron played in 12 games last year in Knoxville and recorded career highs of 10.5 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks. During his four years with the Volunteers, he participated in 48 games and finished his career with 13.5 sacks.
