Vanderbilt third-year head coach Clark Lea kicked off the second day of Southeastern Conference media days Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Commodores will conclude regular-season play at Tennessee on Nov. 25. Vanderbilt lost to the Vols, 56-0, last year in Lea’s second season.
Vanderbilt allowed 3,486 passing yards and 29 passing touchdowns in 2022.
Lea discussed the Commodores’ cornerbacks at SEC media days ahead of fall training camp.
“We have to find the best 11 on both sides,” Lea said. “We do return some snaps at corner, but that doesn’t mean that they haven’t played a bunch. This is about finding the people that are capable in the moment. Obviously, in a game now that is won and lost on the perimeter, we have to give our young players a chance to develop in fall camp. Obviously we have some second year players that are further along in their progress that we expect to have a role on our team. We also have a true freshman that comes in with the chance to make an impact, too. If you remember a year ago, CJ Taylor started as kind of a fringe contributor on our defense and became really our most dynamic playmaker on that side of the ball. That’ll happen at some level this year, too.
“What our goal here is, in fall camp, is to get all those guys exposure, and they’re going to be guarding some SEC-level receivers now. We have a good receiving corps, and it’s not always going to look pretty. For us, it’s to be patient enough to see that through, to keep coaching and developing them through both their wins and their losses and their reps, and to see how that group matures through camp and where we’re ready to start the season. At the point at which we put the ball down against Hawai’i, we don’t stop evaluating at that point. We’ll still look for the highest level performance. That gives those young players time to build into an impact role.”
Vanderbilt kicks off its season Aug. 26 versus Hawai’i at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville (7:30 p.m. EDT, SEC Network).