KNOXVILLE – After an early-morning lull on national signing day, Darnell Wright lit up the afternoon for Tennessee.
Sitting on a stage at Huntington High School in West Virginia, Wright chose the Volunteers over offers from 22 other college football programs, including a late push from his home-state Mountaineers.
“I’m going to be continuing my academic and football career at the university of ” Wright said Wednesday during a ceremony televised by ESPN, before unzipping a black warmup jacket to reveal an orange Tennessee shirt.
His smile amid applause said the rest.
The addition of Wright to Tennessee’s 2019 signing class didn’t stun many. The 6-foot-6, 320-pound, five-star offensive lineman, rated the No. 10 player in the country by 247Sports.com, was long considered to be leaning toward the Vols. But most may have been surprised about an hour earlier, when four-star linebacker Henry To’oto’o, who played at De La Salle in Concord, California, announced his commitment to the Vols over offers from Alabama and Washington.