Vanderbilt Football Defensive Takeaways After the Seventh Day of Fall Camp

NASHVILLE – After its second day off of camp, Vanderbilt football got back onto the practice field for the seventh day of fall camp.

It was a practice that was not as content filled, but Vanderbilt was running through drills and went live for a solid amount of time Thursday morning.

Defensively, Vanderbilt had a solid practice. It still appears as though Vanderbilt’s defense is ahead of the offense thus far in camp and some of that was evident on the seventh day. There were also a few players that stood out in practice, too.

Here are takeaways from Vanderbilt’s defense after Thursday’s practice.

Jailen Ruth Makes His Presence Known

Vanderbilt safety/STAR Jailen Ruth had a pretty quiet first six days of fall camp overall, but that was not the case on Thursday In Vanderbilt’s seventh practice, Ruth was one the defensive standouts for the Commodores.

What Ruth really did a really nice job of was his performance in coverage. Ruth looked more dialed in on plays in coverage than he had throughout the first week of camp. It is not that he had a bad first week of camp, he just did not make as much stuff happen before Thursday.

Going into camp, Vandy On SI projected that there would be a battle for the starter at the STAR position between Ruth and Carson Lawrence. Lawrence has had a nice camp as well and it looks like he has had a better camp than Ruth in general, but Ruth was better than Lawrence Thursday.

The battle for the starting STAR guy seems far from over, though. Perhaps Ruth can start to turn it on in camp and string together good practices.

The Future of Vanderbilt’s Secondary is Promising

It is not the most sure “if,” but if Vanderbilt were to retain and continue to develop cornerback Cayden Daniels and safety Mason Lewis, the future of the Commodores’ secondary looks really promising.

Vanderbilt has prided itself on having players that are more so homegrown in the back end of the defense, namely with cornerback Martel Hight. Hight has become the top cornerback on the roster, but maybe Daniels could turn into one of the more familiar names down the road.

Both Daniels and Lewis had another good day of fall camp Thursday. Both were around the ball and in the area of plays during practice pretty often. Both Lewis and Daniels made plays in coverage in various parts of practice as well. Through seven days, both Daniels and Lewis have had a nice start to fall camp.

If both continue to perform well in practice, maybe both of them get their opportunities on the field throughout the season.

Josiah Broxton Had a Great Day

The linebacker depth Vanderbilt has on its roster showed up once again Thursday. Vanderbilt sophomore linebacker Josiah Broxton was a practice standout, especially in plays that occurred over the middle of the field.

Broxton was able to get his hands on a ball and made a couple more plays that seemed to have him hyped up about his day. Though Broxton may not get a ton of playing time this fall, there is no denying that the linebacker depth on the roster is certainly there.

It should be interesting to see where his camp goes from here. Maybe he can make some plays over the next couple weeks that shows he can make a real impact.

Jaylon Stone is Stringing Together Good Practices

Jaylon Stone had another good day of practice Thursday. The aspect of his game that stood out is the pressure he was able to get against offensive lineman. Stone was able to get a considerable push against guys he was matched up against.

Applying pressure against opponents from the inside of the defensive line is going to be critical to Vanderbilt’s defensive success this fall. If Stone can keep this up the rest of the season, that would no doubt be encouraging for Vanderbilt.

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