Temple defensive end Darian Varner is one of the best at his position in the transfer portal with plenty of interest from across the country. Varner recently shared that he has 3 visits set for this week including one to Blacksburg.
"Vanderbilt today, Virginia Tech Friday, and Ole Miss Saturday," Varner told us about his upcoming visit schedule on Thursday, December 15th.
The high level interest shouldn't come as a surprise given that Varner had a huge 2022 season with 35 tackles including 12.5 for loss with 7.5 sacks plus a forced fumble in only 10 games on his way to earning All-AAC First Team honors. This came after a promising 2021 season where he had 22 tackles including 7 for loss with 3 sacks plus a fumble recovery.
Varner also has shown great consistency with at least 1 tackle for loss in 8 of 10 games this past season. He also made big plays against some of the toughest teams he faced with a sack against Duke, 2 tackles including 1 for loss against Rutgers, 5 tackles including 1 for loss against UCF, 5 tackles including a sack against Memphis, and a sack & forced fumble against Houston after having 2 sacks against them in 2021.
Outside of TyJuan Garbutt when healthy, Virginia Tech's defensive ends showed plenty of flash while also lacking some consistency. Cole Nelson and CJ McCray have both shown plenty of potential but this group could use a proven DE and pass rusher which Varner can immediately provide for the Hokies.
Tech has a couple potential recruiting advantages here starting with the clear opening for a proven DE like Varner to earn a starting job immediately with the Hokies. Additionally, Varner is a 757 native and those in-state roots could be a small factor that can help the Hokies here.
Varner also isn't a one year rental as he has two years of eligibility left and could not only upgrade VT's pass rushing but also put the DE room on track to be a strength of this defense by 2024.
Varner does profile as a bigger DE at 6'2'' and 260 pounds which may give Tech some flexibility to slide him inside at times and bring in an extra edge rusher on clear passing down situations. We saw Tech try some 4 DE packages even briefly against Duke that did have some success with that approach being fruitful at times elsewhere. One example is the New York Giants during one of their Super Bowl runs when they had Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora, and Mathias Kiwanuka would use a NASCAR package to send all 4 on the field at once.
Varner also has the size to hold up better on the interior than many collegiate DEs would which would help make it a more viable option beyond just 3rd and very long situations.
Now there's no doubt that Tech has some tough competition but Darian Varner would be a big time addition to the Hokies' defensive line and give them a proven pass rusher if they can land his commitment.
