Who Clark Lea is Looking For to Step Up in the Passing Game for Vanderbilt Football

NASHVILLE — One quick look at the box scores for the past couple games for Vanderbilt football reveals an issue that needs to be fixed as soon as possible.

While the box score does not tell the story of a game in full context, it does show everyone that had involvement in the outcome of the game and the extent of each player’s involvement. In the passing game, it takes one look to know that wide receiver Junior Sherrill is the captain of the ship for Vanderbilt’s receiving game.

Sherrill has caught six passes from five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis in each of the last two games for a combined 203 yards. Sherrill has been the most important contributor for Vanderbilt’s offense in the first month of the season.

After Sherrill, though, lies the problem. Against Auburn, the next best producers in the receiving game were running back MK Young with three catches for 21 yards and wide receiver Ja’Cory Thomas with three receptions for 18 yards. Wide receivers Tristen Brown, Cole Adams and Brycen Coleman combined for two receptions for 14 yards.

To his credit, Brown did catch four passes for 81 yards against NC State. In that game, Sherrill and Brown were the only Vanderbilt players to have more than two receptions.

There is a clear lack of consistent options in the passing game. That is what needs to be fixed if Vanderbilt is going to get back on track. Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea believes his guys will still become consistent, viable options as pass catchers.

“I think it’s a matter of designing. Right now we’ve designed a lot for Junior. We’ve created one-on-one shots and I think Ja’Cory can be a great option opposite Junior for a downfield threat,” Lea said. “Both Cole and T5 [Brown] are guys that have a knack for finding the spaces on the shorts intermediate throws and that’s an area where their abilities can help give Jared options.”

There is not a shortage on the number of guys Vanderbilt has in the wide receiver room, but the array of guys available have to make themselves become a threat in their performance in games.

Lea also knows he has tight ends Cole Spence and Jayvontay Conner at his disposal. Spence played in his first game of the season at Auburn, so his workload in the passing game is just getting started. The confidence Lea has in the connection Conner has with Curtis brings him a lot of hope for the passing game as well.

Despite the inconsistency seen among the Vanderbilt pass catchers, the Commodores are not pressing the panic button. Lea is seeing his guys still settle into their fixated roles and believes that other effective options outside of Sherrill will come along with time.

“All of this is about chemistry and time and Tim’s [offensive coordinator Tim Beck] design for how we move the ball effectively,” Lea said.

As Lea ran through the list of guys at the wide receiver and tight end position at his Tuesday press conference, he addressed the fact that Vanderbilt needs another guy as a deep threat to catch passes. Again, he mentioned the need for Thomas and Coleman to be those guys.

Perhaps that does come to fruition and one of those two does develop into a downfield threat this season. The question would be when that would happen. Vanderbilt needs to find the answer to that as soon as it can given how far into the regular season the Commodores are.

This weekend's matchup against Georgia would be the perfect time for one of those options to begin establishing himself as a No. 2 option at wide receiver.

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