How Vanderbilt Football Has Emphasized Importance of Extending Runs

Nashville–As Vanderbilt went through spring practice, there were two things that running backs coach Ghaali Muhammad-Lankford wouldn’t shut up about; explosive plays and finishing runs.

It wasn’t as much a question of effort in 2024, but in this case Lankford doesn’t want to there to be any question about his group’s intentions. As a result, he’s doing everything he can to make sure that his group doesn’t leave any yards–or chunk plays–on the table.

Perhaps that intention is a result of Vanderbilt’s 2024 run-game deficiency outside of Pavia. The Commodores were 89th in the country in yards on the ground per game and didn’t have a run longer than 31 yards generated by any of its running backs. Vanderbilt was also 13th in the SEC in total rushing last season and 12th in yards per game.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told Vandy on SI over the summer that to sustainably be a program that wins, Vanderbilt will have to be more explosive offensivley. Now it just has to figure out how to turn the corner in that regard.

“That’s a great question,” Muhammad-Lankford–who came from New Mexico State with Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck–said. “During the offseason our offense was just more explosive. One of the things that we were mindful of going into the spring was just finishing runs.”

By his direction, each of Muhammad-Lankford’s running backs took each carry that they had in Sunday’s unpadded practice all the way from the line of scrimmage to the end zone, regardless of distance. Even after the play was blown dead, Vanderbilt’s running backs kept running until there wasn’t anywhere for them to go anymore.

Muhammad-Lankford hopes that his philosophy will spread room-wide to Vanderbilt running backs Sedrick Alexander–who says he’s 100% after an injury hampered him last season–AJ Newberry–who is back to action after missing the last few games last season, New Mexico State transfer Mahkylin Young, freshman Gabe Fields and longtime staple of the room Chase Gillespie. Alexander–in particular–appears to be intent on cleaning up the little things that his running backs coach is preaching.

“When I see the hole make sure I hit it and make sure I finish,” Alexander said. “I’m trying to finish runs more than I did last year. Not saying I gave up on runs, but sometimes you get in a position where there’s a possibility where you can finish and there’s a possibility where you can not. When you get in those positions you gotta try to finish and break tackles. More broken tackles is gonna be a success for our running back group this year.”

If Vanderbilt’s backs are going to take the step forward that they envision, it’ll have to start with Alexander. Now that the junior back is at full health, he’ll be able to fully participate in parts of Vanderbilt’s offense where he was limited last season.

Since he’s been able to do that, he’s gotten the full scope of his coach’s messaging. That messaging is loud and clear these days.

“We’re really looking forward to creating a lot more explosives than last year,” Muhammad-Lankford said. “I think that emphasis will be able to help us.”