Offensive Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's Second Day of Fall Camp
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NASHVILLE---Vanderbilt football continues to usher in a new offensive era with a quarterback competition in mid swing and a relatively new group across the board, and Thursday was its most substantial day of practice of the fall thus far.
Clark Lea believes he could have something with an offense that will be a blend of Vanderbilt's 2024 and 2025 systems schematically, but it's still a work in progress.
“This year we're still trying to find our niche,” Beck said Wednesday after Vanderbilt’s first practice of fall camp. “That's exactly what this is for, to find what our identity is and who the guys that we need to get the ball to and then make sure it fits it within our system.”
Here's a few takeaways from Vanderbilt's second day of camp as it looks to approach its ceiling offensivley.
Quarterback competition
Lea said after the spring game that nobody should expect either of his quarterbacks to be Diego Pavia in 2026, and he laid out expectations properly by doing so.
Vanderbilt is still searching for consistency in regard to its quarterback competition after two days of practice. It’s seen all four of the quarterbacks competing for the job make standout throws, but it’s also seen mistakes all over.
Jared Curtis looks like Vanderbilt’s best quarterback at this stage, but is still developing consistently in regard to making the right read. The difference between Curtis and Vanderbilt veteran Blaze Berlowitz is that Curtis has a certain zip on the ball and general arm talent that nobody else on Vanderbilt’s roster does.
That’s not to say Berlowitz isn’t talented, it’s merely a testament to Curtis’ transcendent physical tools. As evidenced by Thursday’s practice, Curtis can simply get away with throws that others can’t.
Tristen Brown is emerging
Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck went out of his way to rave about Brown on Wednesday, and it appears that he’s on to something here.
Brown didn’t take over practice on Thursday, but the compounding takeaway from the first two days is that he should be considered the leader in the clubhouse for Vanderbilt’s No. 4 receiver spot–behind Junior Sherrill, Ja’Cory Thomas and Cole Adams. That hasn’t been decided yet, but Brown’s snap experience and consistency in practice appears to position him well for that role.
Both Vanderbilt quarterbacks appear to have a rapport of some sort with Brown–who caught 10 passes for 137 yards in 2025–and are prone to targeting him often in the short and intermediate game. Thomas and Adams are both more highly-touted, but Brown has been Vanderbilt’s most impressive non-Sherrill receiver through two days.
MK Young could take a receiving leap
Young’s 9.0 yards per carry likely won’t keep up through his second season at Vanderbilt, but he could take a step forward as a safety valve pass catcher out of the backfield for whichever first-time starter takes the field for Vanderbilt against Austin Peay.
Sedrick Alexander will limit how much Young really carries the ball in 2026, but Beck says he’s open to expanding on his two-back looks and could feature Young out of the backfield as a pass catcher more consistently in the season ahead.
Young caught 14 passes for 133 yards in 2025.
How explosive can Vanderbilt be?
There’s clearly some optimism within Vanderbilt’s program that it could have an explosive enough offense to open up the playbook for Beck more than it was in 2024, but how explosive it can be through the downfield passing game is still yet to be determined.
Vanderbilt’s offense hasn’t been entirely bottled up in practice, but its defense has been better throughout the first two practices. The bigger question at play here is whether Vanderbilt has enough in place on the perimeter to consistently push it downfield.
Curtis clearly has the arm talent to do so, though.
Other standouts
Sherrill bounced back from a tough day one with a few standout catches and a more commanding presence in general. He’s been good through two days, but Vanderbilt may need him to be elite.
Freshman back Evan Hampton is truly shifty in the open field and could give Vanderbilt some interesting looks if it wants to use him in certain packages. Lea also loved Jamezell Lassiter’s intensity on Thursday.
Among the back-end receivers on the roster, Kahden Smith has been the most impressive thus far. At this stage, though, he may be stuck somewhere below the real rotation at receiver. The good news for him is that there’s still plenty of camp to go and some real opportunity to contribute at receiver. Lebron Hill has made more plays through two days on average than he did last camp, as well.
Vanderbilt hits the practice field again on Friday morning.
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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, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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