Jalen Pinkney Leaving Vanderbilt Football

Jalen Pinkney, the younger brother of tight end Jared Pinkney, appeared in seven games as a true freshman in 2017 and seemed to have a ton of upside. He made two tackles in the Alabama game last year but seemed set on playing a bigger role in 2018, with Vanderbilt graduating multiple starters on the defensive front.

But Pinkney announced via Twitter that he wouldn’t be returning to the Commodores in 2018.

It’s not clear what his future plans are; we don’t want to parse this tweet too much, but note the careful word choice: “not returning to Vanderbilt for the 2018-2019 school year.” So perhaps this isn’t a permanent departure, but it does appear to be a blow to Vanderbilt’s defense in 2018.