Yilanan "Issa" Ouattara to Miss Remainder of 2025 Season

Vanderbilt football's most physically gifted defensive tackle will miss the rest of the 2025 season.

Yilanan Ouattara won't play the rest of the 2025 season. | Ouattara's Instagram

NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt defensive lineman Yilanan “Issa” Ouattara is out for the remainder of the season, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea said in his Tuesday press conference. 

Ouattara has struggled with a shoulder injury since the start of the season, but Vanderbilt was optimistic that the defensive lineman could get back on the field by building up strength in the shoulder. Ouattara didn’t play in Vanderbilt’s season opener against Charleston Southern, returned to play 15 snaps in its win against Virginia Tech and has been sidelined since. 

Vanderbilt appeared to believe in Ouattara’s ability to take a step forward after a junior season in which he totaled 31 tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery and two pass deflections. The Germany native picked up football late before developing at Rabun Gap Nacoochee High School. 

Ouattara’s 6-foot-7 frame has been described as a “97 million dollar body” by Vanderbilt defensive line coaches Larry Black and Jovan Haye, but Haye and Black have made an intentional effort to hone in Ouattara’s fundamental ability. When it all comes together, this staff believes Ouattara is capable of doing something that few players have done throughout Lea’s tenure as head coach. 

“He’s grown into an NFL player,” Lea said early in Vanderbilt’s fall camp. “This guy is a top-end prospect, he’s got the measurables, he’s got the athleticism. He plays the game the right way. He’s got a process out here and so what I want to see this fall camp is ‘can we take that raw ability and keep refining it?”

“That’s why I came to the states, that’s why I came to Vanderbilt was to play in the NFL,” Ouattara said. “To me that’s always been the goal.” 

It appears as if that leap will have to come next season, though.