Kicking Competition Underway For Commodores

Most of the attention has focused on the quarterback competition, but theirs another one going on for the kicking duties.

Kickers never get much attention until they miss a field goal or extra point, then everyone in the stadium or those watching on television automatically learn their name. 

The Vanderbilt Commodores and head coach Derek Mason were blessed with a solid player in Ryley Guay, who connected on 9 of 11 field-goal attempts and was perfect on PAT's in 2019.  For his career, Guay connected on 22 of 33 field goals and a perfect 66 of 66 on extra points over two seasons. 

Now that Guay has graduated, his replacement was thought to be a foregone conclusion where sophomore Javan Rice would assume that role. 

However, the emergence of Pierson Cooke, a junior from Bloomfield Hills, MI. has turned that conclusion into a competition. 

Initially a punter, Cooke also handled kicking duties in high school and is showing those skills to Mason and his staff now. It wasn't planned for Cooke to be part of a competition. In fact, Cooke only began handling kickoff duties when Rice was forced into quarantine and necessitating someone to replace him. 

"Javan Rice is kicking, you know, Javan Rice was in quarantine for a little bit, and you know, Pierson and Javan have been going neck and neck," said Mason. "Pierson is a converted punter. He punted and kicked field goals in high school. He's got a strong leg."

 "We saw him kick off last ago, and I think he put at least 70% of his balls out the back of the end zone. So he's got a strong leg, and what he's proven is he's skilled, so strong leg, skilled,  he's in really good shape, and he's competitive right now, and I think he's pushing to be the starter right now." 

Competition is a good thing, and you can never have enough capable kickers, so finding Cooke is a plus for Mason and this team. 

As for when we might know who will win the battle, but did share this on the competition. 

"We'll get it all figured out here quick," concluded Mason. "Javan, Javan kicked today. Javan did a good job today. We put a little pressure on him, and he went 3 of 4, so we've got two solid kickers, and what we've got to do is see who takes the job." 

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