Vanderbilt Lacks "Juice" on First Fully-Padded Day of Fall Camp: Practice Takeaways

Nashville–After six days, the pads finally came on for Vanderbilt football at FirstBank Stadium as it went all-in before a Wednesday off day.

Things became too sloppy at times for the Commodores as they went through a few contact periods and its players looked to stand out, though. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea felt as if there was something left on the table that is a result of Tuesday being the third day in a row of live play.

“I didn’t love the attitude of the team,” Lea said. “We’re a week in and it’s probably the residual now of just what camp feels like a week in. I wanted to see more juice. I wanted to see more energy in the live periods. I thought we went through the motions a little bit.”

Lea still believes Vanderbilt got meaningful reps and got “good work” in on Tuesday, but Vanderbilt’s lapses in focus at times is the story of the day.

Still too many mental errors

Jerry Kill has made clear his position throughout practices this week.

Kill has been livid at times in regards to Vanderbilt’s offensive penalties on the line of scrimmage and was on Tuesday as he was loud and clear to everyone in the building that he wasn’t having it when a backup Vanderbilt lineman jumped early on a play.

Vanderbilt knows it has to be able to win in the margins and can’t make boneheaded mistakes on Saturdays if it’s going to win big. Right now there’s too many of those, whether it’s in the form of a penalty, poor decision making from a quarterback, the ball being on the ground or dropped interceptions.

That stuff can’t happen often and is happening too much these days. It’s also worth noting that it’s early August.

Lebron Hill and Boski Barrett likely won’t see the field a ton, but they are making plays

Hill certainly passes the eye test as an SEC receiver and appears to make a few flash plays each day, while Barrett appears to be making an impact on camp after missing most of it due to injury last fall.

The 6-foot-5 freshman isn’t Vanderbilt’s fastest receiver, but he’s always noticeable and appears to be more impactful than most of Vanderbilt’s freshmen have been in camp since Junior Sherrill and London Humphreys.

The Vanderbilt freshman has big-time upside and is making an impact in the downfield passing game.

Barrett’s speed appears to be opening some things up downfield for him and he keeps making himself available in the intermediate passing game, rather than just throws around the line of scrimmage.

Perhaps it’s an indicator more of the structure of Vanderbilt’s practice on Tuesday than anything, but it appeared as if its receiver depth is significantly better than it was in the spring.

Bryan Longwell and Nick Rinaldi are around the ball a lot these days

Vanderbilt allowed tackling for the first time on Tuesday and it appears as if two of its best tacklers haven’t lost their ability to fly downhill and make a play.

Longwell got into the backfield a few times on Tuesday as a result of standout play recognition while Rinaldi just always appears to be around the ball regardless of what position he’s playing.

Sedrick Alexander and Mahkylin Young will likely lead Vanderbilt in carries, with AJ Newberry coming in third and a drop off after that

Newberry will have a role, but he hasn’t made many splash plays at this stage of camp that would indicate that he’ll pass Young on the depth chart.

Perhaps it’s a bit early for declarations there since Vanderbilt had its first fully-padded day on Tuesday, but Newberry will have to continue his emphasis on running in between the tackles if he’s going to get as many carries as he did last season. It’s also worth giving Newberry the benefit of the doubt as a result of him having to phase back in as a result of an injury.

Behind Vanderbilt’s “three-headed” monster at running back, as Diego Pavia calls it, freshman back Gabe Fields appears to be the next in line for carries. Fields has really turned it upfield throughout camp and appears to have solid ability there, although he’s not quite as fast as Newberry is.

Beyond that, it’s an uphill climb for anyone else to see the field at running back. Perhaps it is for Fields, as well.

Miles Capers, Eli Stowers, Cole Spence, Brycen Coleman, Trent Hudson and Jordan Matthews

Were all off to the side on Tuesday, most of which have been for a few days.

Stowers’ absence is due to a maintenance day.