Is it Carson Lawrence's Time? The Anchor
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Perhaps he wasn’t noticeable to the naked eye, but a piece of Vanderbilt’s defensive future was hiding in plain sight on the sideline during Vanderbilt’s Birmingham Bowl win over Georgia Tech.
Four-star safety Carson Lawrence–Vanderbilt’s No. 1 ranked recruit in the 2025 class and No. 16 ranked recruit in program history–enrolled early to go through the motions with Vanderbilt football in the winter and spring. If his spring practice performances and ability to flash in fall camp have been any indication, that experience was helpful to him.
Lawrence wasn’t dominant in the spring–and did appear to be behind Florida Atlantic transfer CJ Heard, but flashed his ability to come down in the box and hit often. There’s some developing yet to be done for the 6-foot-2, 200 pound safety, but he’s got length and athleticism that stand out on tape.
The positive trends have continued for Lawrence heading into the fall as he’s found a way to impact practice in one way or another nearly every day. Few have the day-to-day intensity of the highly-touted freshman.
It appears as if Lawrence has a chance to become a real rotational player as a freshman if the remainder of fall camp goes according to plan.
Today’s Commodores Schedule
No games or matches scheduled.
Yesterday’s Commodores Results
No games or matches scheduled.
Did You Notice?
Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers tells Vandy on SI that he’s deleted all social media in an effort to focus on his final college season as well as his faith.
The Commodores held their first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday. Vandy on SI was in attendance and posted a position-by-position breakdown at the conclusion of the action.
Vanderbilt takes the field for a scrimmage on Sunday evening, which will be its second of the fall.
Countdown to Vanderbilt’s 2025 Football Season Opener
14 days
Commodores Quote of the Day
“It took our entire team to go up against Reggie White. Reggie wasn’t that great of a football player until his last year in college when he kind of figured things out. On one play he was rushing the center when I was pass blocking and there wasn’t anybody for me to pick up on a blitz. So I was free to tee off and hit him as hard as I could. As a guard you usually get that opportunity a couple of times every game. At that time I was usually successful and I hit Reggie. It was like hitting a solid wall. I think I hurt myself more than I hurt him.”
-Will Wolford
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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