Exclusive: Vanderbilt Football's Biggest Misfit Wants His Flowers
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NASHVILLE—The term would be insulting to just about anyone else in the country. To some it would be deemed disrespectful enough to get physical over. In the wrong context, it can be diminishing and degrading. The term Misfit indicates that there’s a flaw separating someone from the crowd, that something is irreversibly wrong with them.
Bryan Longwell identifies with it, though. It’s something he takes pride in. In fact, Longwell coined the term around these parts.
“You’re like the chief misfit, aren’t you?”
“I am,” Longwell replied, laughing as if he’d been approached with the label too many times to count.
If Longwell had it his way as a high schooler, he would’ve worn a four-star label rather than going through what it took to earn the mislabel. A frame that prompted most power-five evaluators to consider Longwell undersized was enough for him to earn it, though. Longwell, his family and Lipscomb Academy head coach Trent Dilfer all believed he was a power-five player and were confused as to why everyone seemed to look the other way.
Longwell pushed to go to Auburn, but a then-Tigers’ assistant coach texted him on Christmas morning to tell him that the staff was no longer interested in him. He was never thought of as more than a regional recruit. Even after three seasons at Vanderbilt in which he was a more than capable starter, Longwell has no national buzz.
When Vanderbilt hosted a team bonding activity in the summer of 2025, Longwell looked around and noticed that a number of his Vanderbilt teammates have similar stories to him and have been counted out. He says that most of them wanted to go somewhere else to play their college football, but they weren’t given the chance to. He says that puts a chip on his shoulder, and everyone else’s. Vanderbilt turned the misfit term into a rallying cry–and subsequently, a merch line. Longwell was the face of it, and for good reason.
Longwell led Vanderbilt in tackles in 2024 and was No. 2 on the roster in 2025, but he’s yet to earn any All-League honors as a Vanderbilt player. He’s yet to be considered a star on the national level. In the same way that Auburn’s coaching staff bailed on him motivated him, his standing nationally sits with him.
“I feel like I haven’t got my flowers yet and I feel like I still need to prove more,” Longwell told Vandy on SI. “What drives me to this day still–even though I’ve achieved a lot and I’ve made great strides in college football and cemented a name for myself–I still feel like I haven’t done enough. I want to get more.”
Perhaps the biggest catalyst in Longwell’s rise is his disdain for being told that he can’t do something and the fact that he’s aligned himself with a program that has pulled itself from the depths of college football irrelevancy on the same principle.
While a number of power-five coaches around the country have rolled with the linebackers they decided were better than Longwell, he’s put together a career in which he’s fifth among returning linebackers in career tackles, sixth in career pass breakups, seventh in career interceptions and has a season under his belt in which he’s led the league in tackles for loss or no gain. Perhaps–despite the body of work Longwell can point to–there will be other linebackers initially considered for all-league awards, but that indicates that Longwell is right within his range of comfortability.
There’s been a tendency to label Longwell as merely a volume tackler and dynamic run defender first rather than a complete linebacker, but he’s out to change that. He’s out to prove that he can become a more dynamic player than anyone thought he could be, and he’s rarely fallen short of his goals when he sets out to achieve them. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea doesn’t seem to think that he’ll do that this time, either.
“The defense has to do its part in improvement, you ask about the guys that we think could be kind of production leaders, obviously, you're going to talk about Bryan Longwell,” Lea said. “A guy that's been disruptive, has been a high-havoc player.”
Longwell believes that in 2026 he’ll take more third-down snaps than he has at any point in his Vanderbilt career thus far and will be able to demonstrate what he describes as good pass-rushing ability as a result. He also says that he’s pushing to force more fumbles, break up more passes and get his hands on the football more than he has at any point in his career. He says the last step he’s yet to take in putting it all together is forcing more turnovers.
The opportunity for Longwell to accomplish everything he has in mind is right in front of him, particularly as a result of the reps Langston Patterson’s departure opens up for him. Longwell is one of the five-best players on this Vanderbilt team, and has established himself more than just about anyone in the program.
As for his mindset, though, he’s still carrying the burden and the responsibility that comes with being the misfit.
“I feel like I’m ready to take that step, to carry a heavier burden on my shoulders,” Longwell said. “I have to. I have such pride in this team and a dream for what we can do, which makes me want to do it.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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