Senior Day Exclusive: Richie Hoskins Thinks Back on His Vanderbilt Career

NASHVILLE – When Vanderbilt football wide receiver Richie Hoskins first joined Vanderbilt as a walk-on, he did not picture nor have an idea of how his career would turn out to go. As a transfer from Middlebury College in Vermont, all he wanted to do was put his head down, get to work and see what results came of it.

After walking-on to the Commodores’ roster in 2022 where he made his debut on special teams in a game against Alabama, Hoskins’ hard work and grit turned himself from a walk-on to a team captain in 2024.

“If you asked me four years ago, I would have been like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It's been such an honor to be in the position that I am. I would have had no idea this was gonna happen,” Hoskins told Vandy On SI in an exclusive interview. “I was in Middlebury, Vermont, four years ago, but that's what happens when you put your head down and put your nose to the grindstone. Anything can happen.”

Now, as a graduate student-athlete, Hoskins is getting ready to play in FirstBank Stadium for the final time in his collegiate career. Thinking back through the past four seasons, including the current one, Hoskins gets emotional knowing this is the final time he plays on the field where he has made so many memories with his teammates, unless Vanderbilt were to jump up to a hosting spot in the College Football Playoff.

The drives to practices this week have hit a little bit differently than past weeks as the Senior Day game against Kentucky commences Saturday afternoon.

“Every day this week I've been driving to practice and driving past the stadium and it almost makes me sick to my stomach. There's so many other guys outside of myself who have worked just as much into this to wear the black and gold. It has been such an honor and such a privilege. It's bittersweet,” Hoskins said.

Through the course of his career, Hoskins has gone from a special teams contributor to a meaningful offense-producing wideout that is looked at as a leader by his teammates as he has shown up when his number is called upon.

When he first arrived in Nashville, Hoskins was not entirely sure what his expectations for himself were other than wanting to be a reliable player his coaches and teammates could count on. But as the Lake Forest, Illinois native looks back on his career and whether he met or surpassed his expectations, it is a little bit of a mixed answer.

“I’d say just based on where I thought I was going to be coming out of high school, I well surpassed [his expectations]. I dreamed as a kid of playing SEC football, so to do that and get to go to a top 15 school in the country with some of the best people in the world, some of the smartest people in the world. It's just an incredible feeling to have been able to live that out,” Hoskins said. “I'd say it's surpassed in a way, but also it's what I always wanted. So I'm almost not surprised, but I am.”

As one of the eldest members and one of the leaders of the team, Hoskins was part of the incredible transformation under Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea. Hoskins was part of the team that went 2-10 in 2023, but has also been apart and a contributing factor into last year’s 7-6 season, where Vanderbilt won its first bowl game since 2013 and now in 2025, where the Commodores are 8-2 and playoff hopefuls for the first time in program history.

No matter how the season finishes, Hoskins will forever be able to say that he had a part in one of the quickest turnarounds of a college football program in recent memory. That is something that nobody can put a price on and another dream that has turned into a reality.

“It means the world to me. It's definitely the greatest honor I'll probably have the rest of my life. Just to get to do it alongside some of the greatest coaches and the greatest players in the country is like a dream come true,” Hoskins said.

For Vanderbilt athletes in all sports, the opportunity to wear black and gold colors during the course of a collegiate career is something that no Vanderbilt student-athlete takes for granted. Rather, it is something that all athletes at the school put a lot of weight on.

What it means to wear Vanderbilt’s colors can vary from athlete-to-athlete. For Hoskins and the rest of Vanderbilt football, it symbolizes a closely-knit brotherhood that pours out passion and intensity on and off the field. In an era of college sports where players transfer between schools, it can be difficult to maintain a culture within the locker room, and it can be even more difficult for the jersey a player puts on to have that much of a meaning.

Hoskins, however, views wearing the Vanderbilt uniform similar to the culture of the team: a passionate desire to play and win alongside his closest friends.

“I could go down a list of 1000 things,” Hoskins said. “In this era of college football where there's an aisle in the transfer portal, if you come here and you want to win, we're going to take you in as a brother. And that has been such an honor to me. It's been beautiful to just see the passion amongst every single player that has come through this program. It's hard to describe in words how important this place is to me. I just hope that the legacy that I can leave on this program carries through the years and through generations.”

As he prepares to run out of the south end zone tunnel onto the field of FirstBank Stadium for the final time, Hoskins is going to be running out to a crowd that has witnessed one of the best rosters and seasons in Vanderbilt football history. Before the final home game, he has one last message to the fans.

“We love them and that for all those who've been here since the beginning, it means the world to us. You do not go unnoticed,” Hoskins said.

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