How Clark Lea and Vanderbilt Football Feel They've Evolved in High School NIL Funding
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TAMPA, FL—Vanderbilt football was in the midst of Clark Lea’s best season as head coach to date as it prepared to travel to Columbia, Missouri, but he couldn’t help but point out an area where his program needed to improve. Lea owned it, and it appeared that he was so forthright because he was bothered.
Lea had improved his program’s overall talent level significantly, but he knew deep down that he had to force his program to evolve if it was going to sustain its success. When he looked at high school recruiting, he saw a glaring need.
Vanderbilt hadn’t allocated nearly enough of its player-compensation budget towards recruiting high school players. Instead, it had dumped most of its growing budget into the transfer portal. Lea knew that had to change.
As of his meeting with the local media before Tuesday’s SEC Media Days session, it appeared as if it had.
“You don't have a program without NIL, and when you try to recruit, if you're not competitive in those conversations, you've really put yourself behind the eight ball,” Lea said. “It just is what it is. So we've had to continue to expand the way we see and where we see the needs of NIL.”
Lea said that in the infancy stages of NIL, his program viewed it largely as a retention tool–particularly in the fallout of its mass exodus following the 2023 season–and quickly realized that it had to be utilized as a player acquisition tool.
Vanderbilt turned the corner when Lea landed what was by far his biggest, and eventually his most impactful, transfer portal class ahead of the 2024 season. Lea says his program’s rise couldn’t have happened without Pavia or NIL. Its next step can’t come without improved high school recruiting, though.
Lea said Tuesday that Vanderbilt’s model for how to use its player compensation has now evolved to include retention, addition through the portal and high school recruiting. Vanderbilt appeared to make that declaration by flipping five-star quarterback Jared Curtis from Georgia and three-star receiver Owen Cabell from Alabama on signing day a season ago
“Vanderbilt football needs to be about a foundational class and a foundational experience,” Lea said. “The more we can have players in our program for five years, the less that we have to explain who we are year in and year out to our team. So, I’m excited about where this class is. I’m excited about where it’s headed and I think high school recruiting is going to remain an important part of the program build.”
Lea and company built the core of his 10-win team–which set the program record for wins in a season–through high school recruiting, but did it largely through nailing evaluations on otherwise unhearalded three-star recruits and developing them rather than winning high-profile recruiting battles. That’s how it landed foundational pieces like Sedrick Alexander, Bryan Longwell, Nick Rinaldi, Martel Hight and Junior Sherrill.
It will still look to hit on conviction evaluations for a significant portion of every class, but its increased emphasis on putting player compensation resources into high school recruiting allows it more big swing potential at the top of classes.
In the last two cycles, Vanderbilt has landed the two most highly-ranked high school commits in program history–at least since the inception of recruiting rankings–and five of the top 20 that the program has picked up. Lea also landed four recruits ranked as four-star prospects by 247 Sports in the 2027 class for the first time in his tenure. Its class rank of No. 31 in the country would also be the highest in the Lea tenure by over 10 spots if the cycle ended today.
Perhaps, with an increased allocation of resources going to high school players, classes like Vanderbilt’s 2027 group can be the norm rather than a standout exception.
“We have a good reputation right now,” Sherrill–who committed to the program as a three-star, class of 2023 prospect–said, “And I know people that want to be a part of this, what we’ve got going on.”
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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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