Darrin Kirkland Jr.: LB · Tennessee · #34.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Darrin Kirkland Jr.
Is steady in every phase without a signature trait. Played for two head coaches in three seasons at Tennessee. One game to point at: 10 tackles against West Virginia — Week 1, 2018.
Play style
Solid in every phase without a signature dimension.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
51 tackles. 1 pass defended. 1 interception. 5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
There is no official box score for these seasons, so this sack count comes from the play-by-play.
Each sack is credited to the player named on the play, and a sack shared by two players counts as half for each. We checked the same method against the official box scores for 2016 to 2019: it lands within half a sack for about 9 in 10 players. Tackles and passes defended are not shown for these seasons because the same check does not hold for them. Source: SportsDataverse play data.
Game log · Week-by-week
2018 season · 12 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 14-40vs No. 17 West Virginia | 10 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 10 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 59-3vs East Tennessee State | 4 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 24-0vs UTEP | 3 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 21-47vs Florida | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | L 12-38@ No. 2 Georgia | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 30-24@ No. 21 Auburn | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 21-58vs No. 1 Alabama | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | L 24-27@ South Carolina | 6 | 4 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | W 14-3vs Charlotte | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 11 | W 24-7vs No. 12 Kentucky | 3 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 17-50vs Missouri | 4 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 13-38@ Vanderbilt | 6 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 51 | 29 | 5.0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 |
Week 2 · 2018
W 59-3
1 interception · 1 tackle for loss · 4 tackles
Dominant 56-point win at home against East Tennessee State.
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
Tackle volume
51tackles this seasonTFL rate
10%5 TFLSack rate
2%1 sackPD rate
2%1 pass breakups51 tackles · 5 for loss · 1 sack · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2018 season · 12 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home7g | 3.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Road4g | 5.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-76g | 4.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 4.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jeremy Pruitt
Pass share
42.4%
297 pass / 403 run
Plays / game
58.3
12 games
Team sack rate
6.6%
331 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2018
About as many tackles a game as a typical FBS linebacker who plays every week.
How it ended
Three seasons at Tennessee, 96 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2015–2018
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Butch Jones → Jeremy Pruitt. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
