SwimMAC’s Kyle Darmody Chooses Against Family Ties for College Commitment

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Yesterday, Texas was successful in using strong family connections to secure a big verbal commitment in the class of 2013.

Today is a new day, though, and Brett Hawke has taken one away from the Longhorns, as Auburn has gotten a verbal commitment from Kyle Darmody, younger brother of Texas sophomore Kip.

Younger brother Kyle isn’t quite as versatile as his brother was, but is an even better sprinter – which makes Auburn a good fit for him.

Kyle Darmody has yards bests of 20.22/44.19/1:38.97 in the 50 through 200 freestyles, and earned his way onto the U.S. Junior Pan Pacs team, where he placed 10th in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Darmody also has been a 48.87 in the 100 back.

On combination of his 50 and 100 freestyles, he’s one of the top 5 sprinters in the class. This is a class that’s deep with sprinters if you include swimmers like Jack Conger and Ryan Murphy, who are best known for other events. At the same time as it’s deep, it’s without a Morozov or Feigen-like sprint superstar. We named Darmody as one of our top 10 recruits in the class of 2013.

Auburn is always stout with sprinters, so he won’t necessarily need to contribute right away, but that doesn’t mean he won’t. Certainly, by the time he’s a sophomore, the Tigers will need him to emerge as a significant contributor on the relays. He will, at the least, score in both sprint events at the SEC Championships as a freshman, though, and you can never underestimate Brett Hawke’s ability to knock half-a-second off of that 50 free in his first year and into the conversation for NCAA scoring.

Darmody comes from SwimMAC Carolina, where he swam for former Auburn co-captain James Wike, and under the ultimate direction of former Auburn head coach David Marsh, so he’s had a lot of Auburn influence throughout his high school career.