Everything Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea Said After Latest Football Scrimmage

Vanderbilt football has just one week left before its Black and Gold Spring game and held a final scrimmage Friday night at FirstBank Stadium. Afterwards, coach Clark Lea gave his thoughts about the scrimmage to media members in attendance.

Here’s everything Lea said after Friday’s scrimmage:

Lea’s Opening Statement…

You know, scrimmage two—and obviously, I think the last time we were here, we talked about offensive performance. Tonight was about defensive performance. This is how the pendulum swings, right? We've got good players on both sides. We're fighting for identity on both sides. We're learning about ourselves on both sides.

Lea on pre-snap penalties during the scrimmage…

I didn't like the pre-snap penalties. I didn't like the fact that we had the ball on the goal line three times and came away with three points. The two snap penalties under center were problematic. I think scoring touchdowns in the goal-line area is about attitude. So, a lot to clean up that way, but it's also just a point in the progression. We'll celebrate the things we did well. I thought there were some individual performances that stood out. I loved the post early. Defensively, we had some guys step up and play better tonight.

Lea on the defense’s goal line stands…

It all came from the first one. (Senior linebacker) Bryce Cowan did a really nice job—quarterback pulled the ball, and he had pylon leverage, cut it off, and made a play. If you ask Diego (Pavia), he's going to tell you he was going to score there. It looked pretty clean to me defensively. There's a head-body mindset. When the field got tight, they executed and were able to win up front. I think both fumbles were on third-and-one—maybe one was fourth-and-one. Anytime the ball's on the ground, obviously, that’s the offense supporting the defense. I loved the attitude, the compete, the execution. We have to capitalize when the offense is sloppy, and that's what happened tonight.

Lea on the causes for Vanderbilt’s offensive struggles at the goal line…

He got stepped on once—I'm not really sure what happened. I think there are two things. Actually, Diego fumbled one last week under center. I think it's something we need to work on in general. We do under-center exchange every day, but it's different when you've got the center covered up, you're on the goal line, running a play, and there's collision. I think it's just repetition. I wouldn't put that on Blaze (Berlowitz), and I wouldn't necessarily put it on the center. It’s just something we need to improve. We'll need to clean that up by the time we're playing.

Lea on the defense’s overall performance Friday night…

Defensively, there were a lot of successful quarterback runs. Sometimes it's a rush lane issue. I think a lot of them tonight were about finding escape points in the pocket. We'll have to look at where we lost contain or opened up a B-gap. I didn’t see as many designed runs tonight like we did two weeks ago. [Jeremy St-Hilaire] pulled one and circled us then, but I didn’t feel like that was happening tonight. Sometimes you’re just going to absorb some yards. It’s not going to be perfect. What we have to do is be opportunistic when we get them off schedule. Our third-down performance was as good as we’ve been in a while. And yet, it’s one day. What I expect Tuesday is the offense will respond. By the time we’re playing the spring game, it could be a totally different story. I'm not worried about the quarterback, but we do have to have some pocket conversations and compress the space. I don’t know that we did that well all the time.

Lea on deep threat potential of Tristan Brown and Joseph McVey…

Last year, as freshmen, Tristen Brown and Joseph McVay both had a couple of flashes on deep balls, and there was another one today. Do you see them as deep-ball threats you didn’t have as much last year? Without necessarily commenting on last year, I think we’re excited about both those guys. Joe McVey has physical tools we feel could put him in an elite category. He’s got to catch up mentally with the game and the details, but we know we can get him open with speed. He had a couple of shots today—we just didn’t sync up on them. Tristan had the post from Diego—I loved that connection. Both those guys have a chance to help us win. Boowki’s the same. We’ve got to get that receiver group feeling comfortable. Martell’s started to build a snap count, too. Obviously, we have a ton of faith in Junior. I thought he made a couple of nice catches, including one that put the ball down close to the goal line. We’re excited about those guys. I think the veteran leadership in that room is helping, too. Junior again, Martell’s presence—great. We just have to keep them coming along.

Lea on Bryce Cowan’s development…

First of all, I’m really proud of his development. This is a kid that’s had to learn and grow in every aspect of his life. He’s got a great family and a lot of people supporting him here. He came in undersized and undertrained. It’s just taken him time. In terms of play production, we’ve been waiting for him to clean up his detail and consistency. I think his snap count last year was on par with someone who was contributing, especially late in the year. The ramp-up in snap exposure has been good. He’s had a huge special teams presence. In the LSU game, on a kickoff coverage snap, I’ve never seen someone cover that way. But then on one of the rushing touchdowns, he needed to spill the ball—not hammer it. Be inside-out, not outside-in. That consistency is the difference between winning and losing. What I’ve seen him do this winter and spring is reset himself, double down on foundational things. He’s gotten bigger, sustained his weight, running as well as ever, and had as consistent a spring as anyone. When we talk about detail and consistency—he’s got the attitude for it, and he’s starting to have the execution too. I can’t put limitations on what he’s capable of. I’ve always felt that way. It’s really cool to see it coming to life now. He’s a guy that can make a difference on first and second down, on special teams, on third down—he can do a lot for us.