This Vanderbilt Football Transfer Addition Is Intent on Winning, Will Do Anything He Can To Get To The Quarterback.

Vanderbilt football added this power-five transfer edge rusher, who has every intention of getting to the quarterback whenever possible.

Edwin Kolenge is intent on making an impact for Vanderbilt football in 2026. | Vanderbilt football

NASHVILLE—Every day that Edwin Kolenge wakes up, transports himself to Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center and goes through practice is a step. Every rep. Every sack. Everything is making Kolenge more and more of a winner. 

When Kolenge entered the transfer portal after four seasons at Boston College, this is what he was looking for. He didn’t merely want to play at a power-five school anymore. He wanted to be a part of a winning one. He wanted to become a winning player rather than merely a polished one. 

Kolenge and Vanderbilt talked early in his transfer portal process, and he noticed something when they did. Vanderbilt was coming off of a 10-3 season and wasn’t satisfied with that. It was almost a shock to the system for Kolenge after four seasons at a middling Boston College program, but it was exactly what he was looking for. 

“They have a winning team,” Kolenge said Sunday in his second media availability as a Vanderbilt player. “That got me interested.” 

Kolenge is intent on winning after going through a losing season in 2025 at Boston College. | Vanderbilt football

Kolenge has done a lot in four seasons of playing college football. He got on the field as a freshman. He got better as a sophomore. He had his best season as a senior. There’s something he’s yet to do, though. He’s yet to win big. Boston College went to two bowl games in Kolenge’s four seasons, but never won more than seven games in a season. Kolenge always appeared to envy a season like Vanderbilt had in 2025, but now he’s got a chance to help it create a strong second act. 

As Vanderbilt went through spring ball, though, Kolenge started to realize what a season like that would require of him. As he stands there on the fourth day of fall camp, he’s closer than he’s ever been to fulfilling what’s required of him as a winning player. 

Vanderbilt liked Kolenge’s film from his 31-tackle, one-sack 2025 campaign, but it liked him even more because of what it thought it could get out of him within its own walls. But, Kolenge didn’t come here to be the same player he was when he entered the portal. He came to get better. He came to do what winning required of him. As a result, he’s embraced the plan Vanderbilt’s staff has set out for him. 

“I would say the program is more demanding of the players and you’ve got to be at your best every day,” Kolenge said. “It’s been hard, but I’m getting used to it. The coaching staff has done a good job of getting me and the whole team ready.” 

If Kolenge is ready and can follow up what he did in 2025, he’s got a chance to be a real player for Vanderbilt. It’s unlikely that anyone on Vanderbilt’s roster can do quite what Miles Capers can in regard to rushing the passer. It’s unlikely that Kolenge even does what Vanderbilt linebacker Nick Rinaldi does while pursuing the quarterback. Iowa transfer Brian Allen also appears to be the most highly-regarded pass-rushing transfer that Vanderbilt brought in. 

Kolenge will have a role, though, and an important one. 

Vanderbilt doesn’t need Kolenge to be a game breaker, but he’s got the inside track to get on the field as edge rusher consistently and impact games. It believes that Kolenge is going to help it more than his numbers indicate. At the very least, they haven’t questioned his intensity. 

“He’s got a motor,” Vanderbilt defensive ends coach Adam Morris said. “I think he is probably as natural an edge player, an edge rusher as we have. There might be guys who have more natural physical tools. I don’t know that you’re going to find a better pure football player than Edwin Kolenge.” 

As for Kolenge, he’s not putting his expectations out there. When he talks about his fall camp, he merely says he’s working to get better and attack. When the idea of his motor gets brought up, though, that’s when he starts to open up. That’s when those standing around him finally get a glimpse into his mind. 

Kolenge only has three career sacks, but he wants more. In fact, he’s almost desperate for more. 

“That’s my job, to get after the quarterback,” Kolenge said. “So, even if my first move doesn’t work, I’m gonna try to get a second effort, third effort just to get to the quarterback. Everything I do, I do so I can get to the quarterback.”

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