Offensive Takeaways From Vanderbilt Football's Third Day of Fall Camp
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NASHVILLE---With a Saturday off day looming, Vanderbilt went with a live-period heavy Friday morning of practice that provided the best look at its offense to date. In the process, a few key players took advantage.
What happened Friday doesn't change the outlook of Vanderbilt's depth chart drastically, but it was notable nonetheless. Here's what to take away.
Blaze Berlowitz is the day’s winner
That may have been Berlowitz’ best fall-camp practice as a Vanderbilt football player. If it’s not, it’s at least one of the best.
Berlowitz was dealing on Friday morning and sent out a reminder that he shouldn’t be forgotten about without saying anything. That’s the Berlowitz that Vanderbilt has been hoping to see since it signed him a few offseasons ago. He was pushing the ball downfield, ripping it up the seam and knew when to check it down. He even showed off his legs at one point.
It’s not as if Berlowitz was entirely mistake free, but he had long stretches of managing the offense steadily on Friday. That’s the path forward here for Berlowitz. He isn’t as talented as Curtis, so he has to be reliable. Friday, he generally was and found his rhythm downfield.
That has to happen a lot more if the quarterback competition is going to be Berlowitz’
Even with Berlowitz’ standout day, Curtis made the two most impressive throws of the day–one of which left the contingent of media members on hand floored. The problem was that Curtis also had the three worst throws/reads of the day.
Vanderbilt could be willing to live with the bad from Curtis in order to invest in the potential long-term upside that he has. If Berlowitz is to win the job, he’s likely got to be far and away the better quarterback in camp. He hasn’t been.
Berlowitz still has plenty of room to go before changing anyone’s mind on the state of things.
Finally, a look at some offensive line reps
Highly compensated transfer Beau Johnson’s stock remains high coming out of Friday’s practice after a few strong reps, but questions still remain in regard to some of Vanderbilt’s other offensive linemen that worked in front of the media on Friday.
Veteran tackle Clinton Azubuike was fine, but not exceptional in his reps against Vanderbilt’s defensive standouts, sophomore CJ Williams was more impressive than the last time he practiced in front of reporters, but a few of Vanderbilt’s freshmen lineman–Mitchell Smith, Pulelei'ite Primus and Tripp Skewes–struggled at times.
A few spots still remain up for grabs on the offensive line.
Receiver depth chart remains up in the air
Here’s an educated guess in regard to where things stand beyond Junior Sherrill–who has been the most impressive receiver in camp.
Ja’Cory Thomas has enough film and tools to still be considered the favorite for the No. 2 role at this stage. He’s been just good enough in camp for that to be the case. Thomas told Vandy on SI on Friday that he was nursing a limiting hamstring injury in the spring, which impacted his ability to create separation at the top of routes. Optimism appears to be easier to grasp in regard to Thomas’ situation than it’s ever been since the spring.
Vanderbilt appears to know what it has in Cole Adams–who hasn’t been a high-volume pass catcher in camp, but is experienced and was described as a swiss-army knife by receivers coach Alex Bailey on Friday. If things break right, Adams won’t be Vanderbilt’s second-leading pass catcher, but he will be a reliable leader that can make a play here or there.
Bailey says that his room rests on his homegrown players at this stage. Tristen Brown and Kayleb Barnett have been the two best ones to this point, but not entirely impressive. Joseph McVay had his best day of camp on Friday. Bailey says Brycen Coleman’s transition from tight end to receiver has gone well, but it doesn’t appear as if Coleman is making all that many splash plays yet.
Walter Taylor has a good day
Taylor won’t start and may not be all that impactful in an already-crowded tight end room, but he’s improving somewhat rapidly and had his most impactful day of the fall as a passcatcher on Friday.
Don’t rule out Vanderbilt potentially using Taylor to give a different look as a result of his standout, 6-foot-7 frame and his ball skills–which appear to be improving.
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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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