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MLB Draft: Vanderbilt signees

Here are the names that I expect to never make it to campus:

Maxwell Clark (OF)
Thomas White (LHP)
Alex Clemmey (LHP)
Ethan McElvain (LHP)
George Lombard (SS)

The guys that I'm watching closely are Braden Holcomb (SS), Matthew Ossenfort (1B), Nathan Teague (RHP) and Duke Ekstrom (RHP). Teague and Ekstrom had great senior seasons which increased their profiles. Teague struck out 111 in 55 innings while walking only 11. I know that @ChesterCopperpot1 is worried about this class getting raided but I think beyond those top 5 - we have some really good depth in this class and most should make it to campus. If any of those 3 lefties make it to campus from the 5 above, we would be in great shape. Clemmey/McElvain could potentially slide if their number is big. We need the Anchor Impact Fund to get over to Nolensville and offer Ethan about $350K per year.

FB Recruiting ***VANDY LEAVES STRONG IMPRESSION ON ANTONIO WHITE***

Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview safety Antonio White was one of the featured official visitors on West End over the weekend to get a closer look at Vanderbilt.

Needless to say, the Commodores coaching staff left a very strong impression.

"The visit was great," White reflected. "I ain't even gonna lie. What really stood out to me was the academics, the bond, the brotherhood, the coaching staff, and the fact as a freshman I can be able to touch the field. You can't get that nowhere else."

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White has conversed the most with Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Nick Howell and defensive analyst Jimmy Thompson. Both see him as

"I talk to them all the time. They like everything about my film. They like me at safety and said they could rotate at strong and free safety and probably nickel as well."

The three-star talent also got to spend a lot of time with Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea during his time on campus.

"Great guy," White said of Lea. "His message to me was basically that he likes my personality. He likes the way I act. And he likes what I can bring to the table. He likes everything about me and I like everything he is offering with me. We are both on the same table, they are just waiting for me to commit."

While a commitment to the Commodores is something he is currently considering, White said he will continue to explore his options throughout the rest of the month.

"So, my plan is to take the rest of my official visits and then I'm gonna come back to it. If everybody isn't talking like Vanderbilt is talking, then yeah, I will commit to Vandy."

Vanderbilt definitely set the bar, but visits with Rutgers (June 9th), Kentucky (June 16th, and North Carolina (June 23rd).

White also said Texas A&M is also wanting to get him on campus for an official visit as well.

Football Recruiting

This is a very important year for Coach Lea and his staff. If we are going progress to a level of having consistent bowl eligible seasons, then they are going to have to win the recruiting battles for prospects that have significant power five offers. Sean said we most likely to get two commitments from this weekend from the two players who had no other power five offers and that is what happened. We still have a shot at several very good prospects and time will tell. When you see the list of teams recruiting a player, it doesn’t tell you if they have actually offered the player and are actively recruiting him. The staff appears to be working very hard trying to land better players but only time will tell if they are successful. We have been having final recruiting classes ranked in the 30-50 range by Rivals and this has not been good enough to get us over the hump. I hope Coach Lea succeeds.
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Feeling pessimistic about the future

Lack of sleep doesn't help, but reading this board makes me feel like we're falling behind. Suddenly we're a a program that does' make it ou of the regionals. Maybe next year we don't host. After that we stop qualifying. Have NIL and the portal been two asteroids that will slowly decimate our dominance? Feeling low.

Body language

Man I don’t know that I’ve seen a group of Vandy Boys look so tense and dejected as those last three looked when they came up to bat. What ever Corbs did in the locker room - it wasn’t the right thing.
Disappointing end to a season that had some promise. Best of luck to those boys who are moving on. Hope the rest come back ready to go next year

I'm not a baseball fan, but.....

I am a Vanderbilt fan. Baseball is the only one of the three major sports where VU has consistently been superior to UTjr.

The last two years they have owned us, and have went further in the NCAAT than we did. This is unacceptable!!

Is it time to fire Corbs before this trend becomes irreversable, and we become a laughing stock to them in baseball too???

#firecorbs










Bwahahaha, just messing with all of you. Step back from the ledge. It's a beautiful June day, enjoy it!!

baseball this season??

I am not sure how I feel about this season. I have read everyone's thoughts. I can agree with them all. And I can disagree with them all. I do know this. As a long-time season ticket holder, I once again thoroughly enjoyed this season. Certainly disappointed at times. Tough to swallow the injuries to our pitchers. But also got to see a lot of good baseball, many outstanding plays, just a lot of fun. Winning the SEC tournament was unexpected and great but I do agree that the NCAA tournament is what counts. My thanks to Coach Corbin and the players. As for next season, I have faith in Tim Corbin that he will do what needs to be done to improve this team and get to Omaha once again.

FB Recruiting 2024 ATH Gabriel Reliford recaps OV to Vanderbilt

2024 ATH Gabriel Reliford, an intriguing recruiting target out of Evangel Christian (La.), stopped by West End for an official visit with Vanderbilt this past weekend.

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The 6-foot-2, 235-pound athlete out of Shreveport, LA. sat down with VandySportsDotCom to detail his interest in the Commodores program after his recent visit.

"It was a great visit," Reliford said. "And what stood out the most was how genuine the coaches and players were."

Reliford said that he connected with all of Vanderbilt's coaches and had some great conversations. He added that what stood out about the Commodores' coaching staff was that they were about more than just the game of football.

"I talked to all of the coaches and the conversations were great," Reliford said. "They were more than just about football."

Reliford said that he thinks Vanderbilt is a fan of his film and he's eager to return to West End for another visit soon.

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The rising senior said that after his visit to Vanderbilt, he has visits scheduled with Ole Miss and SMU.

"I think Vanderbilt loves my film and I can't wait to get back on campus in the future. I also have Ole Miss and SMU planned in June at the moment."

Baseball help…

Don’t look at the 2023 HS class. It’s loaded with talent that will never make it to campus. It’s ranked 3rd overall right now on PG. sounds great? Right?

Well, of the 20 man class, 7 have a “PG 10” ranking. PG lists a “10” as “Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect”. I wouldn’t count on any PG10 kids making it to campus. This includes McElvain’s little brother.

3-5 other players have a PG9 or PG9.5 grade, which PG provides as “Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect”.

This class is about to get absolutely ravaged by the draft. Unfortunately, help is NOT on the way.

Reasons For Baseball Optimism Moving Forward

These last 24 hours were miserable and maybe it’s because I’m generally optimistic by nature but I don’t feel badly about the program moving forward. While I fully agree and acknowledge some changes need to be made.

1. $40+ million facility commitment. It won’t be as big as Alex Box or Arkansas but by the start of the 2025 season VU will have the top baseball facility in the entire country.

2. NIL success/retention in football/basketball. We held on to CJ, Swann & Shepard and the basketball portal season was a big success. Vandy has its challenges in the NIL portal era and Corbin has to embrace it at least for a couple of bats probably every year to churn the roster but there’s clearly more infrastructure there to make it happen than many of us worried there wouldn’t be.

3. The pitching staff is stacked next year. Holton, Futrell, Duke, Horn, Moore, Ginther, etc. will be the best staff since 2019.

4. Corbin may not like what college athletics is becoming but he hates losing more. All the money and resources that are being pumped into the program. I feel confident realizations are made that we need to add some transfer bats this off-season and potentially staff changes as well.

Bradfield/Corbin postgame comments

TIM CORBIN

Congrats Xavier
They beat us at home
Pitched well
Hliboki did a nice job, so did Reilly
They had a hard time moving the bats “for whatever reason” but give credit to Xavier.
Hard that it’s final, that takes energy out of you.
Sun will come up tomorrow

Did you consider challenging the HPB?
Yes
Didn’t get confirmation from Bulger
On replay doubtful it would have been overturned
Said Bulger caught the ball cleanly but didn’t get anything from him in terms of feedback
Thought the ball probably skimmed the hitter but it didn’t adjust the ball

How did he handle the four hours delay?
He didn’t know what it would do
Said they won the Fullerton game in 2015 and Kentucky in 2019 but you never know what it’ll do

Did the players max out what they were able to do?
Would’t say they maxed out
You get to this point and you sense energy that a team has a run to put together
Last night was tough
Last night probably had something to do. Hates to say it but it did. “It shook the energy a little bit.” But a lot of teams come back from that.
Said their health was challenged all year but he won’t sit and talk about that
They did the best they could. It was a good year
The other teams played better than they did.

The offense was hot and cold all year, what led to that?
Doesn’t want to talk about that right now, wants to talk about what they did well
Doesn’t want to analyze what the hell happened during the course of the year

Anything stand out in terms of how to improve the offense?
He’s not in the condition to do that right now
Once they’re done he knows they’ve got to get a whole lot better
They just spent August 22 to now going hard
No fricking days off. You go and go and go and go and boom, it shuts. (He was very animated.)

About EBJ
They’ve never had players play CF like him
To watch his growth,
He’s going to be a good dad
He’s not chasing stupid things
Great family

What did he say afterwards
Not much, it’s not the time
He’ll think about that tomorrow
Nobody’s in the mood after the game, they’re processing
It’s the last time they’ll have that chance together
So he said very little, it doesn’t matter right now

Did the run in the SEC tournament impact the pitching now?
Kids were out there doing the best they can
You pitch with what you have

ENRIQUE BRADFIELD JR

What was tough about the two guys Xavier threw?
They had command of pitches and executed them

Asked about having their accomplishments and then it ending so quickly
You never know when it’ll be your last day
It came quick
Guys spend time together
They’ll never have the same group together in one place and that’s hard

Did last night take something out of them?
It probably did
When you play as much as he has, you understand that
It’s hard to come back from that

How challenging was the four hours?
Wasn’t challenging at all
They hang out and talk and laugh
That happens all the time
Stay light in those four hours

What was the difference between going to Omaha in 2021 and the last two years
Not sure
Doesn’t know the answer to that

What stands out about his time here?
It’s too much to answer in one question
He’s learned and grown and become a completely different person
The relationships were special and are his best friends

Many will be his groomsmen in his wedding one day
Wins and losses are important

Culture compared to other places
Overoen in the portal is “win now” but that doesn’t have the best results or build the best culture for 3-4 years with similar guys
More time spent

Were you 100% all year?
“If I was good enough to be out there, I was.”
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