In-Depth, Position-by-Position Takeaways from Vanderbilt's Second Fall-Camp Scrimmage

Nashville—Vanderbilt took the field on Saturday night for its second scrimmage of the fall while most of the players that took reps were second and third teamers.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea says the Commodores had a productive day of work with good “spirit” and came out of the night healthy, though.

Here's a position-by-position breakdown of the scrimmage.

Quarterback:

Vanderbilt held Diego Pavia out of the live periods on Saturday for similar reasons to his absence in its spring game and got a chance to evaluate its backups in his place. Pavia appears to be at the point in camp where he’s being preserved for Vanderbilt’s opener against Charleston Southern.

When he was out there in other situational periods he made nice decisions with the ball and looked the part of Vanderbilt’s starter.

In Blaze Berlowitz’ limited action, he still looked as if he was a work in progress. Berlowitz wasn’t helped by poor offensive line play, but failed to move the ball in his limited drives. He appears to have hit a mid-camp wall after a strong start. Drew Dickey struggled, but still appears to have the clearest route to being Vanderbilt’s third-string guy.

Whit Muschamp and Jack Elliott both struggled, but it’s almost unfair to evaluate them because of how poor the offensive line play was when they were involved. Muschamp appears to slowly have rising stock. Jeremy St. Hilare appears to be buried a bit.

Running back

Vanderbilt’s running back room was almost reminiscent of its room in the spring as it was without Sedrick Alexander and AJ Newberry for the day, presumably due to load management or a low-profile injury.

Vanderbilt saw some flashes from Mahkylin Young in his small sample of snaps on Saturday, but most of the action included Gabe Fields and Jamezell Lassiter.

Fields has a nice ability to turn up field, but it appears as if he’s still buried on the depth chart and still has to clean some things up if he’s going to see playing time with any level of consistency. He’s shown this fall that he’s a worthwhile investment for Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck, though.

Lassiter was quieter on Saturday than he’s been, but his legend in Vanderbilt fall camp scrimmages will live on.

Wide receiver

Vanderbilt didn’t have all that much of a downfield passing game on Saturday and its receiver room was without Junior Sherrill, Trent Hudson, Richie Hoskins, Martel Hight and only a few snaps from Tre Richardson–who did have a nice blocking rep.

Perhaps its standout receiver of the day was freshman Kayleb Barnett, who had a few of his biggest highlights of camp and a few big gains on Saturday. Barnett is noticeably undersized–and that will always be a talking point–but he is shifty and has a chance to become something as a result of that. For now, he appears to be low enough on the depth chart where he won’t see the field much as a freshman.

Joseph McVay has a chance to work his way back into things and has had a few solid reps from time to time since returning to the field a few days ago, but he doesn’t appear to be in line for a significant step forward.

Otherwise, it was a quiet day for Vanderbilt’s receivers. Chance Fitzgerald, Lebron Hill and Barnett appear to have some value despite not being near the top of the depth chart. Tristen Brown appears to be a step ahead of those three and is likely ahead of McVay, too.

Tight end

Still no Cole Spence, Eli Stowers and Brycen Coleman out there for Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Instead, it was Witt Edwards, Emmanuel Adebi and Larry Benton running the show in the room. By the time the two deep comes, it appears as if Adebi will be the only one in the mix. He’ll be a blocking tight end that will work in certain personnel packages and can give Spence a breather. Don’t underestimate Adebi’s value, even if he doesn’t have many numbers.

Edwards has a chance to be a player down the line, but his frame still needs significant work if he’s going to play tight end at Vanderbilt. He’s somewhat of a tweener at this stage of his development, but is a talented pass catcher that could be used at times. Brycen Coleman has a similar mold and appears to be farther along as a receiver, though.

Offensive line

Vanderbilt was without Jordan White, Bryce Henderson, Isaia Glass and Chase Mitchell on Saturday, which naturally caused some problems for the Vanderbilt offense against a few talented defensive linemen.

Clark Lea invested heavily in his offensive line this offseason, but if someone goes down it appears as if there could be some real issues for Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt likely has around six guys that it trusts–including the four aforementioned starters, Cade McConnell and Sterling Porcher–and beyond that it may have to stretch to find someone capable.

Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks who were live really had no chance on Saturday. It felt as if whenever they moved the ball, they were immediately swallowed up and hit hard. It was good for Vanderbilt that Pavia didn’t play and Berlowitz had limited snaps, they would’ve had a hard time excelling with what the line provided.

Vanderbilt’s offensive line was the worst position group of the day and it wasn’t all that close.

Cade McConnell still appears likely to start. Behind him and–presumably the other four starters–it’s all up in the air.

Defensive line

Vanderbilt’s defensive line was dominant on Saturday and ended the day by completely halting the offensive operation for most of the night.

Linus Zunk led the way with 2.5 sacks, a touchdown and just a general sense of dominance on Saturday. He was the best player on the field and it wasn’t all that close. It took awhile for Zunk to get healthy, but he’s ramped his way back up into being a productive piece to Vanderbilt’s defensive line.

It was against backup offensive linemen, but Zunk had a fantastic day that should be considered as Vanderbilt enters its opener on Aug. 30.

SEMO transfer Jaylon Stone has also put together two really solid outings in Vanderbilt’s scrimmages. He appears to be in the backfield as often as anyone and had three stuffs as well as a tackle for loss on Saturday. Stone represents the type of player that Vanderbilt hasn’t often had as a depth piece throughout Lea’s tenure. He’s been a pleasant surprise all camp.

Mason Carter also had a tremendous day that demonstrated his year-over-year growth within Vanderbilt’s system. He may not be a consistent piece, but he appears to be coming along as a pass rusher rather than just a freak athlete that has a high ceiling.

Even without Yilanan Ouattara, Khordae Sydnor, Mason Nelson, Joshua Singh, Glenn Seabrooks and Miles Capers, Vanderbilt’s defensive line starred all day.

Linebackers

Vanderbilt didn’t throw its starters out there all that much and didn’t have Jamison Curtis, but it saw Nick Rinaldi fly around a bit and make a few plays like he normally does. He wasn’t the standout, though.

Former highly-touted recruit Prince Kollie had his best day of the fall and had perhaps the highlight of the day with a pick six. He’s still behind a group of talented linebackers, but Kollie reminded everyone at FirstBank Stadium that he’s still as fast and instinctual that he was as a high schooler.

Freshman Austin Howard is still someone who has plenty of room to go, but he has flashes of flying to the ball and hitting once he’s downhill. He won’t play much, if at all, but he’s a prospect worth investing in for Vanderbilt.

STAR

It’s the design of the position, but Vanderbilt’s STARS were all over the place on Saturday despite Randon Fontenette not being out there.

Tate Hamby made a few really nice plays in space, while Jailen Ruth made a splash play and was around the ball a good bit, as well.

There’s no competition here with Fontenette being so established, but Vanderbilt does appear to have capable depth there.

Cornerbacks

The story of the day in the cornerback room is Mark Davis being back out there after a knee scope held him out of the first few weeks of practice. Davis has yet to play for Vanderbilt and appears to be trending upwards ahead of the opener on Aug. 30.

It was a generally quiet day for Vanderbilt’s cornerback room as it wasn’t tested all that often, but it didn’t need to learn much about its cornerback room. It didn’t have Hight, Jordan Matthews, Jaylin Lackey and Kolbey Taylor out there.

Safeties

With the way Vanderbilt jammed things up at the line of scrimmage and held top of the depth chart guys out, it didn’t have much to note.

It does appear to like Davin Chandler and his ability to be a piece down the line. He’s demonstrated an ability to come downhill and make a play.

Special teams

Brock Taylor didn’t have his best day on Saturday, but was good from shorter yardages. It doesn’t appear as if Vanderbilt has anything to worry about there.