"Top Game in My Career," Miles Capers Picks Up Win in Homecoming

COLUMBIA, S.C.---If the traffic is light, Miles Capers’ large group of family–which is often spotted in his jerseys at every Vanderbilt game–doesn’t even have to drive an hour in order to find their way from their hometown of Sumter, South Carolina, to Williams-Brice Stadium.

The Capers have made the trip west three times throughout his college career and haven’t seen all that much to note over the years. The first time they graced the stands of Williams-Brice, they saw Capers and Vanderbilt allow one to slip away from them in the first year of Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea’s tenure. The second time, they saw Vanderbilt get stomped in a game that likely forced it to reflect and change some of its processes.

This one was different, though. This one resulted in Capers walking up to the table for his postgame press conference with a slight grin on his face as if he couldn’t wait to field questions in the coming minutes. If there was ever an occasion for Capers to do that and embrace the feelings, he was in it.

The Vanderbilt EDGE rusher has started nearly all of Vanderbilt’s biggest wins under Lea, he secured Vanderbilt’s biggest win in program history with his strip sack of then-Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe. This one stood out to him more than any of those, though.

“This might be my top game in my career,” Capers said from the media room on Saturday night. “I'm just happy we did it. We did it together, too. Shout out to the offense, just putting points on the board. Shout out defense for this, holding the shutout again in the second half. So I'm just proud of this team.”

Capers jokes that he could feel the good energy heading into Saturday night’s game as a result of Sumter High School finding a way to pick up a significant rivalry win on Friday night. Perhaps that game wasn’t top of mind for Capers as Vanderbilt linebacker Bryce Cowan forced South Carolina backup quarterback Luke Doty to fumble and Capers jumped on the ball.

The Vanderbilt EDGE rusher ran around with the ball grasped in his right mitt and glided around the field as if Vanderbilt had just won the game then and there. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia told Capers prior to the game that Vanderbilt was going to get the win for him as he returned to his home state for the final time as a college player. It did just that on Saturday night as it outscored South Carolina 17-0 in the second half and cleared out Williams-Brice Stadium.

Capers had just two tackles–both solos–on Saturday night, but did plenty in order to lead Vanderbilt towards a win. The South Carolina native believes what his team did on Saturday night says something about it.

“Don't steep on us,” Capers said. “We’re coming for everybody right now. So just get ready…We’re not gonna let each other down. We just played complimentary football.”