Vanderbilt Football

The tides are turning for the Vanderbilt Commodore program. Coming off a bowl game last year, the future looks bright for the Commodores. Coach Bobby Johnson has built a program ready for winning in Nashville.

I see four key offensive players that will keep the Commodores battling the big teams in the SEC for years to come.

QB Larry Smith is 6'2" and a lean 216 lbs. Smith played high school ball at Prattville HS in Prattville, Ala. Smith compiled over 4,400 yards passing with 39 touchdowns and four interceptions in his final two years of high school. He's a dual threat quarterback who makes smart decisions with the ball.

Against Western Carolina, he had a QB rating of 145.3. He threw for 153 yards and rushed for 46 yards, but the key was no interceptions.

TE Brandon Barden is a beast at 6'5" and 245 lbs. of muscle. Barden signed with Virginia Tech back in 2006 but then transferred to Vanderbilt. He redshirted in 2007.

In 2008, he finished the season as the top freshman receiving TE in the nation with 28 receptions. He was also named by coaches to the All-SEC Freshman squad and earned Freshman All-America recognition.

Barden had three catches for 38 yards versus Western Carolina.

RB Zac Stacy is an athlete in a small package at 5'10", 194 lbs. Don't let his size fool you. This kid can flat out run and play, as he showed as a tailback at Bibb County High School in Alabama.

"What a great young man and football player," Bibb County football coach Mike Battles said. "Zac is everything you'd want in a running back. The great ones play their best against the best. Zac had his best games in the big games."

Stacy started his season off with a bang, recording 20 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown.

RB Warren Norman is just like Stacy. He is 5'10", 188 lbs., but he can flat out play ball.

His high school coach was quoted as saying, "On the field, Warren is a physical running back with the type of speed that can be hard to contain on the outside. He's a guy that runs through tackles, a hard guy to bring down. He also has great hands out of the backfield catching the football."

Norman started off with a bang, racking up 105 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns against Western Carolina.

Norman and Stacy are freshmen and Smith and Barden are red shirt sophomores, so the future is bright for the Commodores.

Vanderbilt thrives as an underdog, and that’s where the team finds itself again this weekend against the 14-point favorite LSU Tigers. You could say the Commodores are used to the position seeing as that’s generally the role they’ve had in the Southeastern Conference over the years.

But every year since 2005, Vanderbilt has surprised a favored foe at least once, and on that team's home turf no less.

Under eighth-year head coach Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt has beaten all but three SEC teams at least once, including a 28-24 victory engineered by Jay Cutler at arch-rival Tennessee in 2005 and a last-second stunner over then-No. 16 Georgia in 2006.

Don’t forget Vandy’s long-awaited win over the Ol’ Ball Coach in 2007 when the Commodores smothered his then-No. 6 Gamecocks in Columbia (their first win over him in 15 tries), and followed it up with wins last year at eventual Cotton Bowl champion Ole Miss, as well as divisional foe Kentucky.

Now the Commodores have a shot to ruin another weekend for a tough opponent, getting their first shot in Baton Rouge since 2004. Their last game in Death Valley was a 24-7 loss, and none of the players on the team currently were around for that one.

Johnson was, and his memories of it aren’t particularly fond. But he used that experience as a teaching tool for Vanderbilt this week heading into the game.

“I told the team this, we had a chance to win that game, but I don’t think our team (in 2004) believed that we could win,” Johnson said. “We had several opportunities to make the game a whole lot closer. We just sort of curled up.”

This isn’t a group that curls up any more though.

The culture change in Vanderbilt since that dismal season has become evident to not only everyone in Commodore Nation, but to the rest of the SEC, who can now pencil in Vandy as an automatic win at their own peril.

Now this is a team that believes it can win against anybody and has the personnel to back up what would have been an absurd assertion just a few years ago.

The bigger and louder the crowds, the better. It just presents more opposing fans to silence.

I asked Johnson what he thought has made Vanderbilt into a group of road warriors.

“We think it’s motivating,” Johnson said. “It gets our guys fired up. They like playing in front of big crowds. I think it’s the attitude we have going into these games.”

Redshirt senior center Bradley Vierling personifies that attitude.

“We thrive on it,” Vierling said. “We thrive on going to these big SEC road games and shutting the crowd up and having some fun and getting the W.”

They know it’s going to be noisy, though. The 92,400 capacity stadium has a well-deserved reputation as one of the loudest in the nation, and for a conference opener, there’s no reason to think it won’t be its usual screamfest.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Larry Smith, 2-0 as a starter, will be making his first college start in a hostile environment and will have to be barking out signals pretty loudly to overcome the noise.

“Pretty excited right now,” he said. “I’ve played in rough environments before, but hopefully I won’t lose my voice.”

The coaches were more vociferous than usual at practice on Wednesday, particularly in regards to tightening up kinks on special teams, the one unit that didn’t perform well in last week’s 45-0 win over Western Carolina.

The offense, however, racked up more yards in a game than it had in three years, and the defense pitched its first shutout in nearly a decade.

LSU’s "a whole different animal" though, as one Vandy defensive player put it.

Vandy’s an underdog for a reason; the Tigers are an excellent football team with outstanding speed on both sides of the ball, and it will take near-perfect execution by the Commodores to come away with another big victory.

But would a victory in Death Valley this weekend be such a complete stunner? LSU’s defense didn’t look like world-beaters against Washington, allowing nearly 500 yards. More importantly, Vanderbilt isn’t going to roll over like it did five years ago. This situation might have scared a Commodore football player. Now he welcomes it.

Should the Commodores pull the upset, it might be a stunner to the rest of the nation, but anyone who has been looking closely at the upgrade in talent, and swagger, this program has seen in recent years shouldn’t be too surprised if Vanderbilt adds another high-profile squad to its list of victims.

Normally QB controversies seem like divisive things that can hurt a team's rapport, but in the case of Vanderbilt, the battle for the starting position between Larry Smith and Mackenzi Adams has been ideal.

Smith was named the starter, which wasn't a big surprise. Although both Smith and Adams had taken snaps with the first-team offense, Smith was going first and also has the upside factor on his side given that he's only a redshirt sophomore.

Both did a great job of pushing each other throughout spring and summer practices and they have absolutely made one another improved quarterbacks.

Although Smith hardly looked like a world-beater against Boston College (10-17, 121 yards passing, 25 yards rushing), it was pretty remarkable that he showed the kind of poise he had against a tough defense and go out and win his first career start.

He directed Vanderbilt's two field goal drives in the first quarter (including a beautiful 51-yard pass to Sean Walker) to give then an early lead and completed a critical pass in the fourth quarter to set up the game-winning field goal in the 16-14 win.

Since then, Smith has shown off a gun for an arm in practice and demonstrated good decision-making for the most part. Johnson said there will be a little less running of the quarterback this year and a little more throwing down field, and the best candidate by far to do that is Smith. He makes his share of mistakes during practice and no doubt there will be growing pains for him this season, but this is the right move for the Commodores.

That being said, Mackenzi Adams is as big a gamer as you will find. He came in relief of Chris Nickson in three straight games last season (Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State) and performed well every time off the bench, particularly against Auburn when he threw for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

He didn't fare as well when he started the next three games (all losses) however, but there's no doubting that he can perform whenever called upon, which Johnson made a point of saying during his conference.

Obviously Adams would prefer to be the starter, but given what a competitor he is, he will always be ready if and when needed this season.

The Vanderbilt Commodores opened their 2009 season with a dominating performance against Western Carolina of the FCS league.

The Commodores racked up 620 yards of total offense led by the 433 yards gained on the ground.

The commodores' defense held Western to 115 total yards and also had one interception by Eric Samuels, which was returned for 19 yards.

Western Carolina had four turnovers for the game.

Larry Smith did a great job of moving the Commodores up and down the field. Smith was 10-of-18 for 153 yards and one touchdown. Smith also ran for 66 yards on 11 carries.

The running game for the Commodores was led by a pair of freshmen running backs. Zac Stacey had 133 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown, while Warren Norman had 105 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns.

"They’re cool customers and can handle the pressure," coach Bobby Johnson said of his backs. "They’ve done a good job of learning the offense and they were able to run through some big holes."

Kennard Reeves also provided a spark in the running game with seven rushes for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Justin Green had only one reception, but it was a big one. Smith hit Green for a 46-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

MLB Chris Marve got off to a huge start to the season, forcing two fumbles and recording a sack in the game's first four minutes. Marve forced four fumbles last season.

DE Theron Kadri, who left the team Aug. 24, but came back five days later, made the most of his return, coming up with a sack in the opening game.

Up next for the Commodores is a trip to LSU on Sept. 12.

The Vanderbilt defense suffered another setback when likely starter Theron Kadri decided to leave school for personal reasons.

Kadri, a 6'4", 250 pound defensive end from Brighton, Tennessee, had 19 tackles in 11 games last season.

This leaves the Commodores very thin at the position, as original starter Steven Stone broke his right foot and is out for six weeks.

With the injury to Stone, Kadri was going to see a larger role on game day. Kadri was a key part of a rotation that included Tim Fugger, Teriall Brannon, and Johnell Thomas.

It is not known if Kadri will transfer to a new school to play football yet.

"Coach Johnson said that when one door shuts, it means another one opens," said Fugger. "It's going to be tougher, but it's going to give some of the young guys a better chance."

"The younger guys have been having a good camp," Brannon said. "They started off pretty slow, but once they got comfortable with the system they can close ranks. We're not dropping off in talent level."

Stone is due back by October. That could still mean four games missed. Until that time, the Commodores will rely heavily on the other starter, Broderick Stewart.

The senior is working to regain all of his quickness after suffering a broken leg against Tennessee last year.

If Stewart can return to form, he will have a shot at Vanderbilt's career sacks record (21-and-a-half) held by Alan Young (1989-93). His five sacks last year gave him 16.

"In the SEC, we're all about speed," Stewart said. "Faster receivers mean you've got less time for them to complete the route and for the ball to get out of there. Speed off the edge definitely helps in getting to the quarterback and pressure up the middle complements it."

Brannon can count on plenty of playing time, regardless of whether he starts.

He said defensive line coach Rick Logo has instructed the ends to keep their sack totals up by beating offensive tackles with their feet, not strength.

Quotes in this piece were taken from an article published in the Tennessean.

Worst Case Scenario:  Vanderbilt 

Biggest Asset:  Determination, Heart 

Coming off a successful season, in which Vanderbilt finished above .500 and won a bowl game, I’m afraid their greatest asset isn’t talent, or performance, but rather heart and determination.  I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again, no one in the SEC and possibly the country, does more with less than Bobby Johnson.  When you look at Johnson’s coaching record at Vanderbilt, it appears to be pathetic at 27-56.  But the truth is that he does a miracle job year in and year out of instilling pride, determination and heart into the commodores.



Biggest Liability:  Scheduling

In 2006 Vanderbilt played 12 games in a row without a break.  They finished the season at 4-8 (1-7 in the SEC).  They lost 4 of their last 5 games.  You would think they’d never schedule a season without a break again.

This year Vanderbilt will not have a bye week after their opening game.  They’ll play 12 straight weeks of football, and in the SEC that’s a lot of playing without some time to recuperate.  

Vanderbilt isn’t able to match up with other teams in terms of talent, athleticism and in some sense even coaching.  Instead of being smart schedulers, they have failed themselves.  The wear and tear of the season will prove to be too much for The Commodores this year. 




Where They Could Stumble:  LSU, Mississippi State, Mississippi, Georgia, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee 



Worst Case Scenario:  3-9

Opening against Western Carolina is no easy task.  That team always plays hard.  What that game may do is tell you how the Vanderbilt season is going to go.  Worst case scenario for The Commodores, in my opinion, is for them to finish the season 3-9.  The 3 wins come from non-SEC schools, as Vanderbilt beats Western Carolina, Rice and Army.  Let’s be honest here, with Auburn off the schedule this year, the Commodores may not get a win in SEC play.  They’re probably not more talented than any other team in the SEC.  They may be equally as talented, but not more talented.  At 3-9, Vanderbilt goes from bowl team last year, to toilet team this year.

An entire Worst Case Scenario Series can be found at http://www.BamaNation.net 

This article is brought to you courtesy of SEC Sports Hub's Vanderbilt Commodores' Football page.

The Vanderbilt football team made no bones about it at the SEC Media Days: The Commodores are here to stay.

Head coach Bobby Johnson emphatically reinforced that he expects his team to eventually compete at a championship level in the SEC, and he insists that the Commodores were not just a flash in the pan during the 2008 season.

"I think the sky's the limit for Vanderbilt," Johnson said. "We expect to compete for championships. We can continue to make those kind of leaps and bounds."

Recruits certainly seem to be noticing Vanderbilt, as Johnson and the Commodores landed four commitments from three-star prospects over the past two weeks. Those commitments gave the Commodores 14 three-star or better prospects in the 2010 class, exceeding their previous best of 13 in the 2009 class.

The next-best years for Vanderbilt in the modern recruiting era were 2006 and 2007, when the Commodores landed only six players with a three-star ranking or better.

The recruiting numbers for the past two years nearly double the amount of three-star prospects Vanderbilt has had since the recruiting services began releasing rankings back in 2002. What this means for Johnson and the Commodores is that they're beginning to get some talent that can keep up with some of the elite schools in the SEC East.

"We think we've recruited well the last two or three years," Johnson said. "Like I said, I think every year I've been here, we have a fantastic product to go out and recruit with. We're a top 20 rated university. We play football in the SEC. We're in a great city in Nashville. Now you throw in the fact that we've had a winning season, and we know what it takes to go to a bowl game and win it. I think it's an outstanding product to sell."

Read full Vanderbilt Commodores football story...

Sell it he has, not only to the players he's recruiting, but to the players he's coaching. For the first time ever, Vanderbilt seems to go into marquee SEC matchups expecting to win.

"It's more competitive than it's ever been," center Brad Vierling says. "We've been conditioning really hard this offseason. We're in the best shape this team has ever been in."

Johnson may just be one of the most underrated coaches in the country. While some analysts seem to think Vanderbilt can't be a consistent competitor in the SEC, Johnson has no such belief.

"The key thing is to maintain our momentum and make sure that we're doing everything we can to give our guys a chance to win game," he said.

Vanderbilt will look to do just that starting on Aug. 7, when the Commodores hit the field to begin fall practice. Johnson won't be content to let his team be satisfied with their accomplishments from a year ago.

The Commodores will be looking to accomplish a feat in the 2009 season that has never been done in school history: win back-to-back bowl games.

With Johnson at the helm and the returning talent the Commodores have, they're in great shape to do just that.

Find other quality articles like this about every Southeastern Conference team at SEC Sports Hub.

Last season was one to remember for the Vanderbilt Commodores after ending their bowl drought of over 20 years.

Now the question is: can they do it again?

It's definitely a possibility, thanks to an SEC East that looks pretty ordinary outside of the Florida Gators.

Georgia has a ton of replacements to make on the offensive side of the ball, South Carolina has been on the decline for a while now, Tennessee looks to be a train wreck on offense as well, and Kentucky is just Kentucky.

The schedule will definitely not be a cake walk, as it never is in the SEC. Vanderbilt has tough road games at Florida, LSU and Tennessee.

They also have the challenge of taking on a very improved Georgia Tech that will be an interesting test for Vanderbilt at home.

After watching Larry Smith perform the way he did at quarterback in the Music City Bowl to lead Vanderbilt to a win over Boston College, he will most likely be the starter in the opener against Western Carolina. Senior Mackenzie Adams will have to play the worst-case scenario again this season.

The rushing attack won't raise any eyebrows with Jared Hawkins, but he always seems to get positive yards on first and second down.

A big factor to whether the Commodores see another bowl game this year rests greatly on how the wide receivers perform this year.

Three wide receivers from last season won't be in the lineup this season. George Smith and Sean Walker were lost to graduation, and Justin Wheeler tore his ACL, which will most likely tragically end his season before it gets started.

There is still a lot of buzz surrounding the receivers they have left, including Connecticut transfer Terence Jeffers. Jeffers led Connecticut with 582 yards receiving last season.

The defense has always kept Vanderbilt in games in the past, and look for them to do that again this season since the offense definitely won't be one of the best.

Lucky for Vanderbilt, there's not a whole lot of great offenses that they will face this season outside of Florida, LSU and Georgia Tech.

The defense will have a ton of experience with all four defensive lineman and two linebackers returning as starters. Linebackers Chris Marve and Patrick Benoist had a combined 214 tackles in 2008.

As good as the defensive line and the linebackers will be, the secondary might be the complete opposite.

With the exception of senior Myron Lewis, the secondary will consist of no starters from last season and little experience or depth. The secondary will most likely be one injury away from being in a lot of trouble.

Even though the secondary looks shaky, there is still a lot to look forward to this upcoming season if you're a Vanderbilt fan, and Bobby Johnson definitely looks to have this program finally going in the right direction.

Remember—the first rule of finding a college football team is not to jump on the bandwagon.

But the second is almost as important—don't root for a team that's going to cause you years of mindless misery—or in other words: Don't root for the loser.

Duke Football is NOT Duke basketball: It sucks (although Duke basketball's NCAA appearances haven't been anything to talk about recently, either!).

Washington State and the University of Washington? A combined one win in the whole of the 2008 season. Nice.

You'd think we'd put Texas A&M, Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Michigan on that list because of recent suckage, but you'd be wrong: these teams are long in the tooth on football tradition, and they don't suck ALL the time...just recently.

Oh, and Stanford's victory over USC doesn't mean that they are great—because they really haven't been good since John Elway graced the Northern Californian turf.

And because certain teams suck ass, their fanbase simply isn't passionate. Away fans outnumber the home fans. The student section prefers to sit outside drinking beer than actually attending the game, and those in the game feel jealous of Joe Frat Boy having a kegger at Kappa Alpha rather than being at the game.

Oh, and the PR guy can't get back to the media because he's on the phonecall to the suicide hotline, swearing to someone at the other end of the phone that if there's wasn't a damned recession, he'd be taking a sabbatical for football season.

There might be glimpses of hope.

Coaches swear that this year, they will turn around a program.

But that's a lie. The University that Sucks will still be in the shadow of most other teams in college football. And you know that that the athletic directors—despite jawing about their "commitment" to a school because of its "rich tapestry" (of sucking) don't really care whether the team's coach wins or loses.

And with the lack of backing and the lacking of winning, the fanbase gets easily fed up and Joe Coach becomes Joe Jobless.

It's OK to root for a historically inept school against your designated team of hatred. I root for Indiana Football when the Hoosiers play Michigan or Ohio State. Everyone in the SEC roots for Vanderbilt against Tennessee, Florida, and LSU.

But don't do it all the time. Because although one speck of glory will be able to shine that turd of misery, it'll still be a turd of misery.

And believe me, you don't want that.

LSU fans say it best:



Remember, don't go for the winner, don't go for the loser.

So up to now, we've ruled out Florida, Washington, Washington State, and Duke. There's still time....