“It’s a Give and Take”: Clark Lea Knows His Defense is Deep, But There’s a Balance to be Found

Vanderbilt football’s second scrimmage of camp was a strong showing from the defense.

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea watches the game from the field during the Vanderbilt Football Black and Gold Spring Game at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, April 12, 2025. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As Vanderbilt football looks to head into its last week of fall camp, the Commodores spent Saturday night scrimmaging to close out the second week of camp. 

While few starters played during the scrimmage, it was a great opportunity for the coaching staff to see what their depth guys had. Perhaps the biggest theme coming out of last night’s scrimmage was how good the depth guys on the defense played. As Vanderbilt Commodores On SI’s Joey Dwyer reported, the Vanderbilt defensive line wreaked havoc on a Vanderbilt offensive line that did not have a starter that participated.

So, is it a good sign for the depth pieces of defensive line that it was able to apply pressure and get in the backfield often against the Vanderbilt offensive depth pieces, or is it a bad sign for the depth of the Vanderbilt offense that its second and third team offense was able to allow the defense to wreak havoc early and often?

“It’s the give and the take,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said. “I think defensively if you’re playing hard and you’re playing the right way, you have a chance to be disruptive. And I think particularly at the line of scrimmage, I saw disruptive play.”

As Lea noted, the Vanderbilt offense relies heavily on the tight ends, mainly Eli Stowers. Stowers but also backup tight end Cole Spence. Both Stowers and Spence did not play during Saturday’s scrimmage. 

“Our offense leans on tight end play and that’s a spot where we’ve been playing him and some of our depth has been called into action. Again, one player out of sync up front and you get a tackle for loss in the backfield or a sack, which happened tonight,” Lea said.

Lea does not foresee any of the starters who were out Saturday night with injuries to miss games. If anything, Stowers may end up being back to being a full go game week leading up to Charleston Southern, but it seems the biggest reason for starters being out was load management. 

Given last night’s scrimmage, though, Lea does not feel like his team is quite ready for the season yet.

“I told the team we’re not ready yet. I see that more as a mental challenge right now and a focus challenge. We got to get ready. It’s getting recovered and getting super focused on our strategy and our identity and the things we need to do to win,” Lea said. 

As Clark looks to see how his team responds to his challenge, it is important not to overreact to anything as of yet. There is still a full week left of camp before the Commodores move into a week of practice for their first game. Vanderbilt’s first game of the season against Charleston Southern is Aug. 30, so it still has almost two weeks to recover, focus and continue to get better.