Vanderbilt Quarterback Competition Continues

The Vanderbilt Commodores are in the market for a new starting quarterback in 2020, and four candidates are battling for the position, so it was a logical question to ask head coach Derek Mason when he spoke with the media on Monday, for the first time since March.

True freshman Ken Seals took the majority of first-team reps during the three days of the abbreviated spring, with Jeremy Mussa being part of those practices, but limited because of injury. JUCO transfer Danny Clark and true freshman Michael Wright were not on campus in the spring.

Mason was asked if Seals what the clear cut starter at this point because of his experience in the system, despite it being limited.

"You know what, right now we've got plenty of opportunities to get full reps or four quarterbacks. We're cycling through," said Mason. "We've got some split periods, you know, which is great. Again, having a lot of time to ramp up and actually go through walk-throughs allows us to be a little more efficient on the grass."

"These guys have been really good at being able to compete and to encourage one another and what you see is they all have different skillsets, and it's going to be interesting to see where we go, but these guys have got to get reps, and so looking at today's practice we may have been like around 78 reps, and so looking at that, we're gonna look, because that was a shorter practice, so we have to look at our practice, we have to see how we're managing our time."

So what's left as to determine who will take the first snap Sept. 26 in College Station?

"We're doing a little more team and seven-on-seven work because we just haven't and enough chance to throw the ball as much as we'd like," continued Mason. "The timing, the rhythm, and timing are important, so we've got to give ourselves more time in some of those seven-on-seven and group periods so we can really, generally, take a look at these quarterbacks."

There's still time before that decision must be made, and it's positive to have multiple options. However, that decision can't take too long so that whoever takes the lead can receive more reps and not continue to split them with three other candidates.

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