Canes bolster pass rush and edge rusher depth by landing former SEC player
Six Miami Hurricanes transfer portal targets visited campus in the past month. And UM has landed all six of them.
The latest: former Tennessee defensive end/edge player Tyler Baron, who committed on Tuesday.
Baron, who also considered Mississippi, completes a highly skilled defensive end rotation for the Canes, supplementing top starters Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor and Marshall transfer Elijah Alston.
Baron assuredly will play a lot and might challenge Mesidor to start. Mesidor is coming off injuries to both feet but participated in parts of spring practice.
Baron, 6-5 and 260 pounds, had 28 tackles (including 10.5 for loss) and six sacks for Tennessee last season, as well as a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Baron overall had 101 tackles, 27.0 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in 47 games (including 18 starts) for the Volunteers over four seasons before transferring to Louisville this spring.
This marks the third time that Baron has transferred this offseason.
Baron initially left Tennessee for Mississippi, then transferred to Louisville, then entered the portal again last month. He sustained an undisclosed injury during spring practice at Louisville and on3.com says he’s expected to be sidelined until August.
“Tyler Baron, unfortunately, is injured right now and we’ve got to get him healthy, which will be a process all the way to fall camp,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said in March, before Baron entered the portal for a third time since December. “But he’s played a lot of football as well. He’s long and athletic.”
Brohm told reporters earlier this offseason that part of the reason Baron transferred to Louisville was because he wanted to exclusively play at the edge rusher position.
A four-star prospect out of Knoxville Catholic High, Baron was rated the nation’s fourth-ranked strong-side defensive end in 247 composite rankings for the Class of 2020
Besides Bain, Mesidor, Alston and now Baron, UM has several talented young players at defensive end, including converted linebacker Malik Bryant and freshman early enrollees Cole McConathy and Marquise Lightfoot.
Baron’s addition compensates for the loss of Nyjalik Kelly, who transferred to UCF. Baron has a better and bigger career body of work than Kelly, who was limited to four games last season because of injury.
This continues a highly successful second portal period for the Canes.
The other portal players who transferred to UM after visiting campus in April were Michigan State defensive tackle Simeon Barrow Jr., Oregon State running back Damien Martinez, Marshall cornerback Dyoni Hill, Houston receiver Sam Brown and Louisville linebacker Jaylin Alderman.
