Vanderbilt Football Top 20 Player Rankings: No. 6
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NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt football is in a new era under head coach Clark Lea as it moves forward after a program-best 10-3 season, but does so while replacing star quarterback Diego Pavia and star tight end Eli Stowers.
Lea and company believe that the program can move forward as winners, though, and the amount of experience they bring back is at the forefront of the reasons why.
Lea has the 34th most experienced offense in the country, the No. 4 defense in the country, is No. 2 in game experience in the country and No. 12 in returning starts.
“Just in terms of quality depth, I mean, this is probably the best team we've had,” Lea told Vandy on SI. “Obviously, we have some big gaps to fill, and some of those gaps were our production leaders from a year ago, but I like this team. I like where we are.”
This Vanderbilt team doesn’t appear to have the elite names at the top of the roster that Lea’s 2025 team did, but he believes he’s got a capable group at every level.
In Vandy on SI’s top 20 players list, all three phases will be represented, as well as every offensive and defensive position group.
No. 6: Martel Hight
Hight is among the most proven players on this Vanderbilt team, and—after shifting his focus nearly entirely on the defensive side of the ball again—it appears as if he’s got a chance to take another step forward.
It’s not as if Hight was entirely ineffective on defense in the few games that he also took snaps at wide receiver, but he was significantly better down the stretch when he was only playing cornerback.
As a result, Hight’s full-season numbers are impressive. He picked off four balls and is among Vanderbilt’s highest-graded returning players, via PFF.
Perhaps he could be even better in 2026.
“I think that's the right thing for him,” Lea told Vandy on SI in regard to the position change. “He’s such a dynamic athlete, we were keeping him on the field as much as we could, but we can't do that at the expense of his ability to play corner.”
Now, Hight has the opportunity to break out in year four at Vanderbilt. He’s flashed previously, but he’s yet to have a season that makes him a sure-fire NFL guy.
Why No. 6?
Hight has proven to be the type of capable SEC corner that Vanderbilt missed early in the Lea tenure. He was a real piece of Vanderbilt’s best season in program history. Now, he’s tasked with becoming one of its production leaders.
There are few more natural candidates on the roster to do that than Hight. Ranking him, Bryan Longwell and Sedrick Alexander is a difficult proposition.
2026 is Hight’s chance to prove he’s more than merely a good player in this league, though. Can he be a lockdown guy against some of the league’s best receivers?
If he can be, he could transcend this ranking.
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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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