No. I wouldn't. A person in Middle or High School and the person they become when they grow up are not the same person. You can't actually tell for sure who a person is going to be become that early, and more importantly, you don't know yourself as well as you think you do this early on. Most of my friends are way older than I am, so I've been able to learn a whole lot from them without having to make my own mistakes. The only thing you're missing if you avoid "dating" or "messing around" early on is risk --risk of pregnancy, risk of unnecessary heartbreak, risk of re-routing your life for someone who is ultimately the wrong person. It is just not worth it early on.
Everyone is trying to rush things like this younger and younger, and it's just a bad idea from a very practical standpoint. People like to re-label being smart as "old-fashioned" or "religious" or whatever, when that has nothing to do with it. People had reasons for doing things a certain way; it's not random. I trust my older friends and they have the results to back it up. They're not just blowing smoke. I would avoid dating until toward the end of college. You can't control when you meet the right person. You may have already met them and don't know it yet --all the more reason not to mess things up. The person you end up with as a life partner will be, above all else, your friend. If you can't just be friends, then you'll be staking the entire relationship on the warm and fuzzies that are guaranteed to come and go.
