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While Bellevue is loaded yet again with talented play-makers on both sides of the ball, one player who has flown a bit under-the-radar, almost exclusively because of his height is DT Darien Freeman. A handful of schools have been showing him some interest, and with another big season he could find his way onto a D-1 roster…
Freeman was born in Los Angeles, but shortly after that his family decided to make the trek north in order to get away from some bad influences in the City of Angels.
“We have lived all over the state (of Washington),” Freeman told Northwest Elite Index recently. “We moved up and lived in Olympia, then the Tri Cities, then Ellensburg and now I’m finally here in Bellevue where I’ve been since the eighth grade.”
While Freeman and his family were on their pseudo sight-seeing tour of the Evergreen State, the talented line prospect began what has turned into a very solid football career and he’s used those experiences and the work he’s put in to get where he is today.
“I’ve been playing football since I was in kindergarten,” Freeman, who is now 5’11”, 295 pounds, said. “I was bigger than most of the other kids, so I started out as a ball-carrier, but my ball-carrying skills left a lot to be desired, so eventually I moved to line and that’s where I’ve been ever since.”
As a key cog in Bellevue’s defensive scheme, Freeman used his low center-for-gravity to stuff the run while also getting quite a bit of pressure on the quarterback racking up 35 tackles and 6.5 sacks on the season.
On the recruiting front, things have been kind of slow for a talented and productive prospect like Freeman, but a handful of schools are starting to show him they are interested.
“I’ve heard from the Arizona State coaches a little and I’ve also heard from UNLV, Portland State and Washington,” Freeman noted. “I’m looking at possibly attending San Diego State’s camp and Boston College’s camp too.
“After that, I’m not really sure, but I’ve been looking at some different camps I can go to and I’ll start deciding which ones I can make because the schedule gets pretty packed.”
We will continue to keep track of Freeman through the recruiting process and we’ll have more in the coming weeks and months.
