Clark Lea Notebook: Teaching, Injury Updates, An Important Stat

Atlanta–Clark Lea has heard all about the need to be a CEO as Vanderbilt’s head coach, but he didn’t get into this to be a CEO.

For the majority of his professional career, Lea hasn’t had to be. The fifth-year Vanderbilt head coach got his start as a graduate assistant at UCLA. He was the linebackers coach at Wake Forest, Syracuse, Bowling Green, South Dakota State and Notre Dame before eventually getting his first big break as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in 2018.

Lea’s previous roles included the recruiting duties and level of professionalism that his current one does, but they were all centered on teaching. Now that he’s sitting in the biggest office in Vanderbilt’s practice facility and has given up his title as defensive coordinator, he’s not leaving behind what he loved about those jobs.

“I think the teaching is all about where I want to impart myself,” Lea said at SEC Media Days. “That could be as simple as me having a player in my office, that could be in the big room in front of the team, that could be with the defensive unit. Those opportunities will present, I think I’ve just got to find them and that’s my favorite part.”

Walk in to Vanderbilt’s spring practice and you’ll see that Lea just can’t give up teaching. He can’t go without standing on the sideline and shuffling his feet in response to a question from Vanderbilt defensive lineman Hayden Bray.

That will always be who Lea is and he’s not losing sight of it, even if Steve Gregory is the staff member running the defense.

“[I want] the players to feel my presence and to know that I’m there helping shape that experience too,” Lea said. “How do I give it room to operate without me, but also have those points where I’m involved in helping to move it forward?”

A pre fall camp injury update

Lea says that Vanderbilt will be at its healthiest as it enters fall camp in a few weeks, but there is one that his team may have to deal with one as they take the practice field on day one.

Vanderbilt rotational offensive lineman Kevo Wesley suffered an injury in the spring that Vanderbilt is “working through right now” and will have to manage as it enters fall camp.

“I don’t know exactly the timeline on that,” Lea said. “That really would be the only big [injury] off the top of my head.”

It appears as if Vanderbilt’s offensive line has added enough out of the transfer portal to expect improvement in 2025. Wesley appears to be a step behind as Vanderbilt looks for its best five.

Other than Wesley, Vanderbilt expects all the previously expected names to participate fully in fall camp. Lea says that Bradley Mann if back to full go and that Linus Zunk has been battling a back injury, but that it’s “under control.”

Vanderbilt’s stat to improve

A conversation with Lea nowadays often revolves around Vanderbilt’s amount of yards before contact on the line of scrimmage more than it has in the past.

Vanderbilt appears to have an improved running back room with the addition of Mahkylin Young, but it will have to be better up front to unlock it.