Nation's top OL Darnell Wright reviews family trip to Rocky Top

Huntington, West Virginia offensive lineman Darnell Wright has been to Rocky Top several times including a trip back in March for spring practice. But this weekend, the visit had a different feel with his family along for the trip

“It was a good visit,” Wright said. “I finally got to go on a trip with the family. It was fun. I had a good time.”

Wright didn’t hesitate when the idea came about to visit Tennessee again. He got in the car on Friday afternoon and headed south. The visit had very little to do with football and very much was a ‘get to know everyone’ type visit.

“We hung out a lot and we went out to eat a few times,” Wright said. “We went bowling together which was fun. We just hung out and talked about things.”

Wright hung out with Dominique Wood-Anderson and Jeremy Banks a good portion of his visit. Then spent time with Tennessee commitments Wanya Morris and Jackson Lampley. The visit also left plenty of time to hang out with the Tennessee staff. He is primarily recruited by offensive line coach Will Friend and tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer.

“We hung out a lot and we went to breakfast,” Wright said of his time with coaches Friend and coach Niedermeyer. “We toured the facilities. We went to cafe 4 for breakfast. It was good. I had some waffles.”

Wright isn’t shy to put the food away. He is currently around 315 pounds which doesn’t look bad on his 6-foot-6 frame. The time with Niedermeyer always stands out because of his balance between being caring and being funny.

“Coach Niedermeyer is my guy,” Wright said. “He doesn’t talk to me about football a whole lot. He talks about life things and I like that. They just get to know me and it’s not always about football. I think that is pretty cool.”

Wright’s mother Kimberly took in her first trip as a prospects mom. This was her first time to visit any school and Tennessee rolled out the orange carpet so to speak for the mom of the #2 player in the country.

“I thought it was great,” Kimberly Adams said. “Everyone was very welcoming and went out of their way to welcome us there. It was the first time I was there. The city in itself stood out to me. It was really nice and clean. Everyone was friendly. That’s what stood out the most, just the friendly nature everyone had.”

Wright still hopes to takes some trips this summer with Georgia, Clemson, and Miami on that list of schools he’d love to take a look at. Time is of the essence though with the mandatory dead period starting later this month and running through mid-July.