Madison Greene

Or just want to see it again!!

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Chris Lee and Andrew Allegretta discuss AJ Swann's remarkable performance in a win at Northern Illinois, as well as a number of other true and redshirt freshmen who are making huge impacts for Vanderbilt football.

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The former Virginia commit recently picked up an offer from Vandy back on September 7th. The three-star told me he's very interested in Vandy and is planning to take an official visit with the Commodores. No date is set yet.

UPDATE: Lee told me he has a visit scheduled with Georgia Tech on October 8th. Obviously, Geoff Collins may not be the head coach by then, so that will be interesting to follow

Sorry, meant to have that out earlier but yard work took my entire day today.

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Vanderbilt was the first offer for Hermann back on September 9th. Ohio has since offered while Iowa State, Iowa, Michigan State, and Wisconsin are also expressing interest. Hermann said he's planning to visit Vandy on October 8th when the Commodores host Ole Miss. He also told me he is planning to return later in the winter for an official visit with the Commodores.

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Sorry to all of the atheists in here, but are we witnessing the end times?

Hell must have frozen over. Pigs must be flying. Dogs and cats must be getting along.

I mean, Vanderbilt is 3-1. Duke, Kansas, and Rutgers are all 3-0. For the mathmatically challenged, that's a combined 12-1, by some of the biggest historically awful college football programs of all time! This has to be the end of the world, doesn't it??

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I just searched YouTube and couldn’t find anything other than an NIU based clip. Shouldn’t an SEC school have highlights of a huge win on YouTube? Or am I just being picky?

You probably don’t know this (why would you?), but I design my own exercise shirts. They‘re generally silly: “Here’s a quarter, please call Ric Flair;” “Jolene, I’m begging of you please don’t take my Spam;” “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be lawyers;” “Surely not everybody was kung fu fighting;” and so on. (I like dad jokes and puns. It’s why my office geckos are Art Gecko, David Geckham (a contribution from a member of the forum), and Leggo my Gecko.)

One of my plain exercise shirts just bit the dust, so I’m about to do another one. Any thoughts on lyrics or quotes I can morph into an equally silly shirt?

I know we play them in a few weeks.

Whether you like him or not, he has a way of jabbing GT in the end of this video.

The podcast is presented by Dr. Jody Jones, DDS.

Today’s mailbag is sponsored by Sutherland & Belk, a family owned injury law firm. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an accident, give Taylor or Russell a call at 615-846-6200 to see what your rights are and if they can help.

The guest line is presented by Michael Kendrick of The Kendrick Group. Michael is a local carpenter and a lifelong Vandy fan. He builds bookshelves, cabinets, picture frames, furniture and made-to-order items, including a display case for my prized Dale Murphy jersey. I have seen Michael’s work and he’s a true craftsman. If you’re in the market for custom woodwork, give Michael a call at 615.830.9458.

Please submit your questions in this thread.

I"ll do this probably Wednesday afternoon.

Wished Teresa Walker a happy birthday

Recapping NIU
Good result, proud of how they stayed in the fight against a tough opponent and venue
Struggled early to get stops but the offense started well
They caught up on defense in the second half
The messaging to the team was to dictate terms and energy when they needed to recover and they got that on Saturday
To see that happen after they’ve talked about it so much was a “cool moment for the program.”
Every week is challenging from here on but they’ll focus on them and their highest level and not their opponent

How do they continue our growth as a program and work towards Saturday results
They have a ton of respect for Alabama and everyone left on the schedule but their interest is what they’re doing
What can he take away from coaching against Alabama in the CFB Playoff
“It’s not a great memory,” he said laughing
Saban is at the top of the profession for a good reason; they do a great job and run a program that recruits and develops well
There are similarities in the offense and roster (to that one) but it’s a different identity

How close is he with Nick Saban?
They’ve never really crossed paths
They’re acquaintances since they work in the conference
He enjoys hearing him talk about the game
But they don’t have a deep relationship beyond the respect

AJ Swann, his first start at Alabama
“This is a little-known fact, but my first SEC start was special teams against Alabama”
Joked that Alabama circled his name; they kicked to him twice and he had 10- and 20-yard returns and Bobby Johnson wasn’t pleased they were returning kicks
AJ will learn and grow a lot
But he set the tone from his first practice here
He’s excited to be the starting QB here

The rest of the QB depth chart and could Seals redshirt?
It’s all about what the team needs and they’re fortunate to have three QBs as well as experience and leadership
AJ will lean on those guys for knowledge and support. “It’s like having a separate set of coaches”
Said Seals has handled things as he’d expect and “he’s an absolute embodiment of our program.”
Said they’re wait to see how the season unfolds; Mike has proven he can play and he respects how he handled the last week. “They’re first class.”

On the freshmen who’ve played 4 games, will they redshirt?
Said the conversations are ongoing
Some are playing and in rotations and will play
Where they have returning depth, they have a luxury of choice
But they want their best 11 on the field
They won’t hold back if one can impact things
Some guys will be shut down
Others will continue to play
Some haven’t seen action and will
They’re try to get 4 games out of as many as they can

Injuries
Ben Cox is day to day and questionable for Alabama, it’s not long term
Castillo is the same
Miles Cecil is the same; he’s on his second week of recovery
Rocko Griffin is day to day but he saw progress today; if he’s better he’ll see carries Saturday
They’ll see if he can get out there and “mix it up.”

Smith/Berry/Carter, do they have to re-earn playing time?
They’re available to play and excited to have them back
It’s about putting them back in in ways that help and energize the team
Where they see areas for improvement, they’ll count on those guys

On leaky pass coverage
There are three things: they give up too much space on the perimeter (they can’t be at depth and backpedaling; they saw that to start the NIU game)
One of the NIU TD plays wasn’t a spacial issue, they had to extend the coverage and be more disciplined so that wasn’t as structural
Making a one-on-one tackle isn’t a winning proposition
You address that through fundamental technique
There are specific things—leverage, depth, tempo—and you have to evaluate those each play according to those details; when you handle them well you set the coverage up to success
Third thing is varying their alignment; they may play off and protect and make sure they’re not giving up the ball over their head but they don’t want to show that before the snap
All three of those things are a focus this week
The Wake Forest explosive play was a press-corner with no help vs. a good receiver and seemed to intimate that was the coaches’ fault
Sometimes they need to roll the corners up and be more aggressive but also be more smart but also “not be press-man-zero and let ‘er rip.”
It’s easy to get exposed on the perimeter

Bryce Young, does he have any weaknesses?
He’s respected and well-regarded for a reason
He throws the ball on time and create explosive runs
He can extend plays and that makes them more explosive in the pass game
He can be in the pocket and move off his mark to evade the rush
They have to do a great job in rush lanes and collapsing the pocket
They had rush-lane issues in the NIU game that cost them and that can cost them too this week

All-SEC games from here, how do you build and grow the program while playing that schedule?
This is building and growing the program. “This is what we signed up for.”
Said there’s a buzz of excitement around the program
There’s a belief around what they’re building and they want to measure up with the best
This is a chance to grow and they’ll attack it head-on

On Alabama’s pass rush, how much do they give tackles help?
They have things they can design to slow the rush
They’ve had better OL play in run and pass
That’s a testament to Blazek and Lynch
They’re also more disciplined pre-snap and they can hold the tempo of the opoosing front that way
That helps those guys too
It helps that Mike and AJ are way more ingrained in their system and so protections are being called correctly
They’ll look to neutralize the rush and get the ball to the perimeter
You can’t change your identity based on who you play
That unlocks their performance rather than let Alabama dictate it
It’s about them and what they do well and how they address their weaknesses

The podcast is presented by Dr. Jody Jones, DDS.

Today’s mailbag is sponsored by Sutherland & Belk, a family owned injury law firm. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an accident, give Taylor or Russell a call at 615-846-6200 to see what your rights are and if they can help.

The guest line is presented by Michael Kendrick of The Kendrick Group. Michael is a local carpenter and a lifelong Vandy fan. He builds bookshelves, cabinets, picture frames, furniture and made-to-order items, including a display case for my prized Dale Murphy jersey. I have seen Michael’s work and he’s a true craftsman. If you’re in the market for custom woodwork, give Michael a call at 615.830.9458.

Please submit your questions in this thread.

I'll do this at 11 Wednesday morning.

The line to bet on Vanderbilt's win total is 2.5. If you bet the over you have cashed in by week 3.
Kansas line was 1.5 games....if you bet the over on them you cashed in by week 2 and by week 3 they doubled their 1.5 predicted wins in week 3 by going 3-0.

Leopold interviewed and from what I understand they were equally impressive. My guess is Lea won out by his vision on how to fix the broken program. I think Leopold would have been a fantastic hire...but does he recruit like Lea has....like would he have gone after and gotten Swann and some of these other promising recruits or tried to fill gaps with portal and transfers....juco players.

Would VU be able to do things the Leopold way? Will he stay at KU if successful?

Will Sheps brother

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There's a decent size, enthusiatic crowd at the HR Derby at the Hawk. Beautiful night for softball. I see a lot of Preds gear, but I'm wearing my Vandyboys hat.

I count 31 Seniors on the team.
But here is my real questions, how many transfers do we see next year? This are the ones who I most likely suspect to leave after the season
Mike and Alan "Taco" Wright
Ken Seals
Chase Lloyd
Logan Kyle
John Howse
Dylan Betts-Pauley (though I think he will not have his scholarship renewed)
Ezra McAllister
If both Mike and Ken leave do we go after a veteran QB as a backup? Also if even half of those players leave we can only sign 25 or 28 this class, I can't remember. So that would leave another 5 to 10 scholarships. Does CCL finally hit the portal?

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A random observation: Vandy has played in front of a total of 77,146 fans thus far this season across 4 games. 10 SEC teams (not including Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Mizzou) have played in front of more than that in just one game this year. (Arkansas barely missing out with 2 games around 75k).

Vandy is averaging just over 19k a game. This has to be a close to the lowest attendance average so far this season across power 5. I know this stat is greatly impacted by the Hawaii stadium situation, but also our 2 home games haven’t helped. I know this stat will change very soon with SEC play but found it interesting.

Attendance at Vandy games:
9,000- Hawaii
20,120- Elon
24,431- Wake
23,595- NIU

Just watched the DVR replay of the game as I couldn’t watch live. Here are a few thoughts and impressions:

1) Swann. Wow. What an impressive freshman. Cutler ran a lot as a freshman but I don’t think he threw it as well as Swann. Cutty clearly had the big arm, but he lacked touch, often over-powering throws that were unnecessarily hard to catch. I didn’t see that from AJ. He showed touch, accuracy and power. There were a couple throws that would be picked vs Bama or UGa but overall great decision-making. The 4th down TD pass to Ray was VU Hall of Fame material! Incredible poise, instincts, confidence and skill. I wonder if the locker room is 100% behind him only because Mike was / is so popular. It’s hard to watch that game and not see that AJ gives you the best chance to win.

2) Ray Davis is so important to this team. He’s was a bell cow for us in this game, and forced defenses to respect the run. While not a blazer, he is shifty and hard to bring down. He must have broken 15 tackles in that game. Solid in pass pro. Also a smart player, wisely going down in bounds after getting the first down. Getting Rocko or Smith back will go a long way to ensure Davis is healthy-ish for the entire season.

3) I thought our D Line played its best game. I don’t know if it’s because of the rotation seeing more of youngsters or getting Lee back, but I thought they got decent pressure at point of attack, and at times got penetration. I’d like to see them play more consistently (eg, bad first half, great second half) but I thought the improvement was notable.

4) Sheppard, another wow. What a smoot athlete. He’s so fluid in his movement and I love how he climbs the ladder to high-point the ball. You can tell he and AJ are finding a rhythm. Can’t wait to see how he does against Bama and UGA. We need to sign a 4* receiver this year to complement him next year.

5) Bulovas is a stud. It wasn’t long ago that I sweated every FG attempt. I assume he’s going to make them all. He’s also looks like a LB so I keep waiting for us to run a fake FG to him. Save that one for UT.

6) Play calling is so much better. It’s been almost 10 years since our offensive play-calling looked dynamic, aggressive and smart. Kudos to Lynch for maintaining this despite starting two very different QBs

7) I though Max Worship had a bad game. Seemed to take some bad angles, missed a tackle or two and got run over a couple times because he didn’t “get low”. I don’t know if others saw this too but he jumped out to me.

8) Orji, Lucien, Patterson, Wright, Diakite, Wesley all stood out to me as having good games. I’m cautiously optimistic that our D can improve with more reps from youngsters, healthier veterans and more consistent effort and focus. They’re not going to be great, but they ought to be average in SEC and good enough for us to win at least 2 more games.

Roll Dores!