Blasingame Ready for College Reunion with Texans' Cunningham

Tennessee's fullback and Houston's linebacker are bound to get together at some point on Sunday.

The Tennessee Titans’ matchup with the Houston Texans offers former Vanderbilt teammates Khari Blasingame and Zach Cunningham a chance to get together. Literally.

Titans fullback Blasingame serves as a lead blocker in the NFL’s run game, which features two-time rushing champion Derrick Henry. On the other side of the ball, Cunningham, a linebacker for the Texans, leads the NFL with 150 tackles.

Fullback and linebacker. The two are destined to meet on the football field at some point

during Sunday’s game.

“Everybody knows about Zach Cunningham,” Blasingame said Friday. “He plays hard, he is physical, he makes a lot of tackles. It’s always fun seeing guys you’re cool with in college. But he’s a challenge. He’s a really good player. And we are just trying to go out there and do our job as usual.”

Already this season, Cunningham has set career highs in sacks (three) and quarterback hits (four). He’s remained active in all facets of the game totaling six tackles for a loss and two passes defended.

“He’s been doing this since he was in college, in my opinion,” Blasingame said. “But it is really cool competing against guys that you were friends with in college.”

Cunningham and Blasingame started at Vanderbilt in 2013 and 2014, respectively. They were teammates through 2016, when Cunningham, an All-American, passed on his final year of eligibility to become a professional.

However, both took drastically different paths to the NFL. Cunningham was selected in the second round of the 2017 NFL draft. Blasingame signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in May of 2019.

Last November, the Titans signed Blasingame signed off Minnesota’s practice squad. Since, he has played a crucial role in helping fortify Tennessee’s offense. The running game and his play as a fullback is critical for Tennessee’s hope of sweeping the season series against the Texans.

So though to two are friends the only thing on Blasingame’s mind is a win.

“We are just finding a way to win and doing what we can,” Blasingame said. “We are going to

start fast and play our team type of ball.”

And somewhere along the way he is bound to run into Cunningham.