Clark Lea Says He's Seeing Good Signs In Vanderbilt's Fall Camp Preparation, Here's Why

Nashville–The first few days of Vanderbilt’s fall camp included a few flashes of standout offensive play, but provided more of a look at its defense flexing its muscles and showing what one unit having its full install in while the other doesn’t yet have its barrings.

As the Commodores took the field at FirstBank Stadium for their first scrimmage of the fall on Saturday that look appeared to be gone, though.

“I feel like today we really pushed the docket,” Vanderbilt receiver Richie Hoskins said while addressing the supposed flock of media on hand. “It’s always at the beginning of camp, the beginning of any cycle, you’ve gotta get on time with the quarterbacks, there’s a lot more timing offensively and that’s super important. In these past two weeks we’ve kind of start to click in that regard.”

Perhaps had Vanderbilt’s scrimmage been a week ago rather than today, things wouldn’t have lined up the way that they did for Hoskins–who had 85 receiving yards as well as a touchdown on the day and had a case for scrimmage MVP.

Vanderbilt still had some pre-snap penalty issues–that offensive coordinator Tim Beck wasn’t quick to dismiss–but was able to air it out in a way that it hadn’t often throughout the first few days of camp. It wasn’t reminiscent of Vanderbilt’s 2023 camp that indicated Vanderbilt’s pass rush and cornerback would be an issue all season long, though.

This appeared to be a healthier battle.

“There’s been a little more back and fourth,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said in regard to his offense and defense now relative to the beginning of camp. “I think the offense has had a good couple days, so yes they’ve seen all the looks, they’ve gotten some comfort in the looks and now they’re doing a better job at the point. But, I also thought there was good back and fourth there today.”

Vanderbilt’s defense had its fair share of standouts on the day to complement what its offense did as junior linebacker Bryan Longwell got his hands on a ball, sophomore corner Jaylin Lackey made a few pass breakups, standout STAR Jailen Ruth recorded two sacks and swiss-army knife Nick Rinaldi recorded five tackles.

Don’t let that distract from what the Vanderbilt offense believes is its potential turning point, though. Transfer wide receiver Tre Richardson said Friday that he believes Vanderbilt’s receiver room is starting to win more reps and it appears as if his theory applies to the offense as a whole.

“I feel like it’s starting to come together,” Vanderbilt offensive lineman Cooper Starks said. “I feel like most teams as it gets later into came, it starts coming together a bit. Same thing, offense and defense, and when it both comes together it’s just that much better. You’re competing against each other getting better every day.”

Lea says Vanderbilt is “getting close” to nailing down its five starting offensive linemen as well as its two or three rotational pieces behind the five starters, he also appears to believe that he’s seeing an increase in continuity there as well as continuity between his quarterback and weapons.

He isn’t seeing dominant days all that often from his Diego Pavia or lockdown coverage from his secondary all that often, though. Perhaps that’s a good thing at this stage of the process.

“That’s what camp should be, back and fourth,” Lea said. “We know each other. What you want to see is not pass rushers cut loose or blitzes not picked up or presnap, post-whistle penalties. What you want to see is just both sides contesting for the ground down after down. That makes for a good camp.”