Everything Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea Said After First Scrimmage

Vanderbilt held its first scrimmage of this year’s spring football practices on Saturday. Afterwards fifth-year coach Clark Lea met with members of the media to talk about that day’s scrimmage.

Here’s everything Lea said during the press conference:

Lea’s Opening Statement…

We actually went a little longer than I had expected, and part of that's just wanting to get young players reps. This was one about depth building. We're banged up a little more than I'd like, and nothing that we're not going to recover from, but some soft tissue stuff and some bumps and bruises. On the whole, we learned a lot about how we can't play today—snap penalties, defensively needing to generate stops earlier, finishing on the quarterback, generating turnovers. We weren't able to do those things very well today. I thought the tackling on the perimeter from my vantage point was pretty clean. They had a couple big ones, but it wasn't because we were missing. I think we've gotten better at vicing the ball, which is going to be critical to our success in the fall. Offensively, we were able to get some explosive plays. That thought, obviously, is an area we need to improve upon. I was excited to see Martell, Bryson, Coleman. I thought Blaze had some nice throws down the field too.

But look, we're not playing this week. We didn't play today—we learned today about where we are. I think if we can take the learning, then we'll strengthen as a team and be ready for how we need to play in the fall. This wasn't reflective of that—just too many self-imposed negatives—but that's why you practice. Onward and upward. We'll have a good week this coming week, another scrimmage on Friday, and then head into the last week, hopefully a little healthier, a little faster, and a little cleaner in our play.

Lea on the offensive line’s performance…

Well, I believe they've elevated their performance even through spring. They are moving people at the point of attack. When we're not in with good pad level, anchored, and getting long, they've been able to generate space. I like what we've done in terms of the tactics offensively too, some of the changes we made and runs that we've adapted to. So yeah, I was pleased with that. I've been pleased with that. We know that we can't survive and get to the level we want to get to if every play goes through Diego. Establishing a running game through the tailback is going to be an important part of this offseason.

Lea on running back position improvements from last season…

I like our depth. Right now, we're banged up. [Johann Cardenas] has been really good. I mean, he's got elite traits, numbers, and measurables. He's just struggling to stay available. He had a hamstring that kept him out for most of the week. He got that hammy last week scoring a touchdown and he got a high ankle today, so we need him to get healthy. That's a 235 lb. running back who's fast and physical. [Makhilyn Young] is coming back from a concussion, and we want him to take his time, but he's been a guy that we've really liked. Obviously, AJ (Newberry) won't be available through the entirety of the spring. He'll be a great addition to that room in the fall. Chase Gillespie is overcoming a hamstring, so you're getting thin. [Sedrick Alexander], Jacob Balis carried the ball a bunch today, Isaiah Fontan, but the guy that stood out to me today was Jamezell Lassiter. He's been a receiver, but this was a chance for him to touch the ball a few times, and I thought he showed up and flashed. So, we'll keep building out depth there. I love the depth when everyone in the room is healthy. Obviously, we don't want to push it too much in the spring. We're going to let those guys recover, and I think that room will be in good shape by the time we're playing.

Lea on Blaze Berlowitz…

He's fighting for that backup job. Seemed like a cleaner day. I thought, again, he capitalized on shot opportunities. We'll need to evaluate the film. The biggest thing with Blaze is he's got some athletic tools, physical tools, and arm strength—just making good decisions with the ball. What we can't do is turn the ball over. I thought that was cleaner today. We'll need to look at the film to make the final evaluation.

Lea on development of young receivers…

Probably a little bit behind. We had three or four formational issues today, alignment errors on the receivers. Joe McVay's been limited. I think he's made a ton of physical gains in the offseason. I'm really excited about him. He needs reps, though. This is a critical time for him to learn and grow, and it was good to see him out here get some work, but he's been banged up. Tristen (Brown) has grown in consistency. Over the course of spring, seeing him step into some plays and make some plays will be great. I know he has it in him. Boski Barrett, the same—a guy who had a great winter and is just looking for opportunities to touch the ball. We just got to keep growing those guys. Again, we're not playing next week, so part of the challenge here is patience and process-driven growth, but we will need them to step up and be playmakers for us in the fall.

Lea on safety Dontae Carter’s performance…

Really appreciated his effort today. I see a guy for whom the game is slowing down. He's communicating at a higher level. He's got to be the quarterback for the defense. There's still a need to grow in those areas, but he looks like a guy on his way to impacting winning for us. He just needs to keep his head down, keep working. I'm proud of him, proud of his progress, and his physical play too. You see a guy who's put on weight—he's 185 right now, but he's increased lean muscle mass, gotten stronger, faster. Those things are showing up for him on the field.

Lea on what improvements needed for the defense…

I'll have to look at the plays specifically. I didn't feel like the overall performance was poor. We're short a number of our edge players. Cord is still unavailable. We're hoping to get him back to some football in the next couple weeks. Zen's been limited. Lonus has been out here, just trying to get him recovered. Nothing long-term, but he's had a back issue bothering him. Miles Capers has been limited. Over the course of an 88-play scrimmage, you're splitting those reps between just a couple of guys, and it takes its toll. A couple times in the secondary, we missed opportunities to be in the right position. Some of that’s just execution-based, and when our offense is clicking, if one of the 11 is out of position, they should make us pay. That happened today, but I also felt like there was some opportunistic defense. We absorbed some drives, built the stops, got to second and off-schedule, and were able to get off the field. I’m not discouraged by where we are. I want to see us play better at the point of attack, clean up the secondary play a little bit. But I was pleased with our tackling and the way an undermanned unit kept stepping into it and throwing punches.

Lea on his concern about injuries…

Anytime you're dealing with soft tissue injuries or bumps and bruises—if it's a contusion, those typically heal up. But hip flexors, hamstrings, calf strains, those all have lingering effects. Right now, our focus is on protecting those guys, particularly ones who’ve played a lot of football, so we stop that chain reaction that happens. We'll limit reps as long as we need to so they’re feeling good, so by the time we're playing, we're not dealing with the lag effect of that. The other thing that happens is when you're short in numbers in certain units, the load goes to other people, which can have a wear-down effect too. We just got to be conscious of it all, but also, there's work to be done and guys that need reps. It's about balancing those two things.