When Darrin Kirkland Jr. arrived at Tennessee following an outstanding high school career that finished with an appearance in the U.S. Army All-American Game, the expectations were incredibly high for the Indianapolis native on Rocky Top. Unfortunately, his career in Knoxville has been plagued with one injury after another and it appears there is a chance his time on the field on Rocky Top will soon be coming to an end.

After missing the entire 2017 season due to injury, Kirkland made a tremendous recovery and appeared in all 12 of Tennessee’s games last season but he has yet to return to the practice field in a full-time capacity this spring in Knoxville. We now know why Kirkland has been mostly missing in action this spring — his knee continues to give him issues.

During a recent appearance on Knoxville-based WNML radio program “SportsTalk,” Jeremy Pruitt was asked about Kirkland’s status moving forward with the Vols. According to Pruitt, Kirkland is currently evaluating his options with the help of renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews.

“Darrin has had a little bit of a chronic knee. He’s had a couple of surgeries on his knee. He is undergoing some treatment in Pensacola with James Andrews. It’s something that’s been done on several guys that play in the NFL that’s really extended their careers,” Pruitt revealed during his appearance on the show. “You know, right now, he’s doing that. We’ve talked about the rehab part of it this summer, and even the possibility of him not playing next fall and just getting ready for the draft in January.”

Based on that response, while Kirkland’s time at Tennessee may be done, the linebacker hasn’t given up his dreams of continuing his playing career in the NFL. If Kirkland is advised to rest his knee for the upcoming season in order to potentially make a run at an NFL career, it sounds like that’s what Pruitt is planning on the linebacker doing.

“He’s a guy that has finished his degree here, has done an excellent job and been a great ambassador to us. He’s working on his rehab right now, and he’s going to continue to do that,” Pruitt added. “It’s one of these things that once you’ve had multiple knee surgeries, when you start talking about quad strength and hamstring strength, if it’s not the same as it is on the other leg, you tend to have nagging injuries and that’s something that happened to him this past year.”

Pruitt’s final comments on the subject suggest Tennessee is going to hope for the best but plan for not having Kirkland on the field next fall.

“I think Darrin is a really, really good football player, has a bright future, but he does have to get his leg well, and I’m not so sure that seven or eight months of rehab would not do him best,” he concluded.