2016 Vols commit Darel Middleton disappears?

#1
Fireflame865

Fireflame865

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#1
Hope this guy can get it together. He was dismissed from the football team at Powell towards the end of their season and now from how it sounds he has been absent from basketball and nobody knows where he is.

From the paper:

Powell's Middleton Absent:
Powell sophomore post Darel Middleton was a no-snow Thursday Morning when the Panthers beat Hardin Valley 80-56 in the Pilot winter classic. Middleton, 6-6, 228 pounds, has committed to play football for Tennessee. He was dismissed from the Powell football team shortly before the 2013 season ended, but was on the Panthers basketball roster when the season started. "I haven't heard from (Middleton) in over a week," Powell basketball coach Mike Ogan said Thursday. "I have no idea where he is."
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#5
#5
I would let him go. Sounds like he suffers from T.O. Syndrome and "loves me some me"
 
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#6
#6
Bouncing around to all the threads saying random ignorant thing...sounds like me until I stopped drinking.
 
#8
#8
There were a lot of comments about his on-field work ethic, even during game day. It sounds like this kid is battling a high school athletic program head on, which is not very smart thing to do. IIRC he was upset at the beginning of the season because their head football coach left and he said he would not play for the new coach. There was also talk of transfering or maybe he transfered the year previous? I'm not really sure. Just know the kid is getting a heavy dose of reality right now.
 
#9
#9
Volunteer_Kirby said:
There were a lot of comments about his on-field work ethic, even during game day. It sounds like this kid is battling a high school athletic program head on, which is not very smart thing to do. IIRC he was upset at the beginning of the season because their head football coach left and he said he would not play for the new coach. There was also talk of transfering or maybe he transfered the year previous? I'm not really sure. Just know the kid is getting a heavy dose of reality right now.
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Sounds like he's in a sucky situation. I can understand his feelings, students/players can really form bonds with certain teachers and coaches they trust, and to have that ripped away is like having a mentor/friend/older sibling/aunt/uncle ripped away for no reason you can understand. At his age, those feeling are multiplied by 1000.

He's just a sophomore. Hopefully, he'll work through whatever is going on.
 
#10
#10
Word here in Powell is that he is moving and transferring after the Christmas break. Not sure where he is going to land, but wherever it ends up being I wish the coaches good luck. Darel has a ton of God given talent. I just hope he ends up getting things together and not wasting his talent as we have seen so many young men end up doing in recent years.
 
#11
#11
UTProf said:
Sounds like he's in a sucky situation. I can understand his feelings, students/players can really form bonds with certain teachers and coaches they trust, and to have that ripped away is like having a mentor/friend/older sibling/aunt/uncle ripped away for no reason you can understand. At his age, those feeling are multiplied by 1000.

He's just a sophomore. Hopefully, he'll work through whatever is going on.
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His "sucky situation" was self caused. The coaches, administration, and teachers at Powell did everything possible to try to help him adjust and prosper.
 
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#12
#12
TennesseeThumper said:
His "sucky situation" was self caused. The coaches, administration, and teachers at Powell did everything possible to try to help him adjust and prosper.
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I'm not there to know what you mean by that. However, kids don't always see help when it's being offered to them. Remember being a teenager? Not a great time for anyone's decision-making processes.
 
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#13
#13
TennesseeThumper said:
Word here in Powell is that he is moving and transferring after the Christmas break. Not sure where he is going to land, but wherever it ends up being I wish the coaches good luck. Darel has a ton of God given talent. I just hope he ends up getting things together and not wasting his talent as we have seen so many young men end up doing in recent years.
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I'm guessing he ends up at Maryville or Alcoa.
 
#14
#14
UTProf said:
I'm not there to know what you mean by that. However, kids don't always see help when it's being offered to them. Remember being a teenager? Not a great time for anyone's decision-making processes.
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Yes. I remember being a teenager. I didn't always make the best decisions, but I certainly didn't buck those trying to help me, either. I respected my teachers and coaches, as did my son who came through Powell High just a few years ago.

Don't buy that as an excuse what so ever. There are a lot of teenagers out there who are doing the right things. Kelly, Hurd, Bates, Malone, ....... just to name a few.

No, you're not there so it's best not to try to justify it in this case. There are several of us on this forum who are close to it and know better.
 
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#16
#16
One thing after another with this kid.. He's made more bad news than every commit in our 2014 class put together and he's only a Sophomore..
 
#17
#17
Butch and the boys have time to evaluate whether or not to keep his offer open. Appears to have a real attitude problem, but we don't know the whole story. Let the coaches earn their money.
 
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#18
#18
UTProf said:
Sounds like he's in a sucky situation. I can understand his feelings, students/players can really form bonds with certain teachers and coaches they trust, and to have that ripped away is like having a mentor/friend/older sibling/aunt/uncle ripped away for no reason you can understand. At his age, those feeling are multiplied by 1000.

He's just a sophomore. Hopefully, he'll work through whatever is going on.
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What exactly is the sucky situation? He created the situation with his pathetic attitude?
 
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#21
#21
TennesseeThumper said:
Yes. I remember being a teenager. I didn't always make the best decisions, but I certainly didn't buck those trying to help me, either. I respected my teachers and coaches, as did my son who came through Powell High just a few years ago.

Don't buy that as an excuse what so ever. There are a lot of teenagers out there who are doing the right things. Kelly, Hurd, Bates, Malone, ....... just to name a few.

No, you're not there so it's best not to try to justify it in this case. There are several of us on this forum who are close to it and know better.
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Statements like this piss me off. Are you in this kid's head? Do you know what's going on in there? How do you know this isn't a kid with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia or any of a host of mental medical conditions that need treatment. Are you a doctor? Are any of these others you refer to in these forums as "knowing better", doctors? If any are, have they sat him down and examined him? I would suspect the answer is no.

So despite the fact you think you know, you don't know jack squat. So kindly stfu and keep your ignorance to yourself.
 
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#22
#22
volroadwarrior said:
Butch and the boys have time to evaluate whether or not to keep his offer open. Appears to have a real attitude problem, but we don't know the whole story. Let the coaches earn their money.
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I've watched him closely for two years at Powell and he has a long way to go. Unless he does a complete 180, UT needs to move on. Let's not forget that he hasn't done anything on the field to really warrant a scholarship - he got it because of his size.

The sad part is he could dominate if he would give some effort.
 
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#23
#23
TennesseeThumper said:
His "sucky situation" was self caused. The coaches, administration, and teachers at Powell did everything possible to try to help him adjust and prosper.
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If you say so. But it's a suck situation to lose a coach you care for and if they had a strong bond it may be a lot more important than you realize. I'm not sure why the whole has to be about Powell was awesome to him but the kid was just a jerk. He's a kid and thus far the only thing I've heard is whiffs of attitude issues and Powell is awesome but no one has really given any examples of the issues/problems.

I don't see why this has to be an either/or situation where you choose between Powell and the kid. Perhaps the kid took the coaching deal hard and couldn't connect to the Powell officials trying to help?

Not everything has to be black or white.
 
#24
#24
I agree the kid has to get himself together and grow into a man, but unless we have a bunch of mindreaders on this board, let time work itself out. I don't care how close anyone thinks they are to the situation, they don't know what's going on in this kid's head. Leave him alone and let he and his family work it out.
 
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