Offensive Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's 12th Fall Camp Practice

NASHVILLE---Vanderbilt's fall camp is nearing its end, but it went all out before one of its final open practices of the fall on Wednesday morning.

The Commodores are in the back end of their fall camp schedule and took the field Wednesday morning ahead of a Thursday off day. Monday and Tuesday were both relativley light days for Clark Lea's Vanderbilt team, but Wednesday was far more active.

Here's a few takeaways from that showing.

Vanderbilt’s offense lost the day again

Vanderbilt football — Vanderbilt tight end Jayvontay Conner (8) hauls in a pass against safety Carson Lawrence (3) during practice at Vanderbilt University’s McGugin Center practice fields Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

After a strong performance on Saturday, Vanderbilt’s offense has largely struggled this week. Tuesday it was more a result of poor play, Wednesday it was likely more to do with Vanderbilt’s strong defensive play.

There were flashes, but Vanderbilt’s defense decisively won the day Wednesday. It took the ball away. It played sticky coverage. It made things difficult on each of Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks.

It’s hard to know exactly what to make of that at this stage. This appears to be Lea’s best defense at Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt’s offense rarely looks good in fall camp. But, at some point Vanderbilt’s offense has to turn the corner.

Brycen Coleman was a big winner on the day

Vanderbilt footbal — Vanderbilt wide receiver Brycen Coleman (9) hauls in a pass during practice at Vanderbilt University’s McGugin Center practice fields Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Coleman’s had an up and down camp as he’s moved to wide receiver, but Wednesday was his day.

The big-play ability that Vanderbilt has known Coleman to have was clearly on display on Wednesday as he went up and made contested catches and contributed to a few chunk plays.

Vanderbilt’s wide receiver rotation still appears to be up for interpretation, which could position Coleman to get on the field—particularly in situations where he can use his unique physicality and athleticism to impact the game.

Quarterback clarity?

Neither of Vanderbilt’s quarterback options were particularly impressive on Wednesday, but both appear to be making the big mistake less often.It wasn’t a mistake-free day, but there’s less face palm throws from each quarterback than there were a few weeks ago.

Both Vanderbilt quarterbacks have gotten better, but neither has blown the other out of the water. At this point, it’s unlikely that either will. Barring one blowing each other out of the water in Saturday’s scrimmage, not much is going to change the rest of the way with either candidate. Vanderbilt has the information it needs to make a decision. Now, it just needs to make it.

With Curtis, Vanderbilt has a more explosive offense than it would with Berlowitz and probably has an easier path to consistently putting up 30+ points on any given day. It will hit some explosives, put pressure on the second and third levels of the defense and be more apt to play from behind. It also appears to be more mistake prone and could have a smaller playbook to operate under. The argument could be made that Berlowitz gives it the best chance to beat Austin Peay, but Curtis is inarguably its best long-term option.

Time for it to make the choice.

An emerging offensive leader

Tristen Brown said he aims to become more of a leader, and it appears as if he will be.

In an early open period, Vanderbilt’s defense would rush the field whenever it got a stop while its offense was largely quiet whenever it would make a play. Brown wasn’t having it and tried to light a fire under Vanderbilt’s offense whenever it made a play.

That’s a real step for him. His play has been better than in any other camp, and his voice has followed the same trend.

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