Previous 5 classes average rank that Lea inherited: 54
Previous 5 classes average rank that Mason inherited: 49

Very different than some of the narratives on the board. I am sure this will be nuanced to death by some, but on paper, this dispels the notion that Mason got a roster full of NFL All-stars and Lea got Division III walk-ons.

Yes, I know there are other parts of the equation such as player development ( FWIW, I think CJF did a great job of player development--one of his/his staff's strengths), administrative support, etc. Also, not sure how you factor in CJF poaching his last recruiting class, some of the 4 stars CJF had transferring out or at least not working out like Jordan Cunningham, Brian Kimbrow, etc., Lea running off some players or players transferring after Mason left, other transfers in/out but I found this statistic interesting.

I’ve watched most of them I think and the only mention of Vanderbilt was 5sec of Kevin Anglin talking about Kentucky. Every school so far has had at least 1-2 long features except Vanderbilt so far and we are into the late 1990s. I guess they are waiting until VBKs last season?

Pretty embarrassing and inexcusable. Even some of the women’s programs have had significant air time. Ok there’s Vandy alumnae Carolyn Peck so hey that’s great…..oh wait it is her as the UT assistant coach. Oh well.

Did a little digging today on BTN+, which is where this weekend's baseball games will be.

Having a YouTube TV subscription does not get you BTN+ (it does allow you to watch games on Fox that you'd ordinarily be able to watch on YTTV, but that doesn't help much)

You can get an annual BTN+ baseball subscription for $39.95

I'm gonna pass on this. I did spend the $29.95 for the Dallas games (whatever that service was called), but $39.95 feels like a bridge too far coz I won't watch any of it after this weekend.

If anyone has additional or different info, please post.

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Both misdemeanor charges

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Southern Miss is 25-6 overall and 14-4 in the Sunbelt. They won the regular season outright. And as I understand it they are a Q3 loss for us. In other words the proverbial “bad loss.”

I guess that makes sense.

6 p.m. CST on the SEC network.

I know it’s just preseason, but both Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker are scheduled to pitch for the rangers today. Leiter expected to start the game with rocker getting some relief action.

Here are a few observations:

• Overall, you have a few "garbage time" contributors (Albert, Jankovic, Odusipe), one player finding the floor intermittently for sparse minutes (DeZonie), a couple of solid contributors (Daniels, Disu) and a few valuable performers (Dorsey, Mann, McBride) plus one incomplete situation (Frank) [NOTE: My evaluations are based on how they have played against the level of competition each player encounters.];​
• Jankovic has 1 technical foul which is somewhat remarkable considering his paucity of minutes;​
• We let a lot of really good free throw shooters get away (tongue-in-cheek, only partially);​
• The transfers have landed in some good spots . . . 1 first place team, 2 second place teams and 3rd place team (The second parenthetical reference is each team's conference standing.);​
• Disu's minutes and contributions have moved up a little bit over the last few games, but still his contributions pale in comparison with how he performed for the Dores;​
• Dorsey continues his status as the singular break out performer within this group, in my view not surprisingly, although he has not played the last few games;​
• McBride's overall play remains stellar for ORU . . . the undefeated champion of the Summit League;​
• Mann has found his niche at Georgia State . . . albeit with a last place team, inclusive of some fairly solid shooting percentages;​
• Daniels did ok, although again with an 11th place team, but he, also, has not played the last few games; and​
• Frank's status is a mystery as I cannot find any injury reports (He played in the first six games of the season.) and he still appears on Idaho's roster, although there was an eligibility issue raised prior to the season.​

If you like college hoops, this should be a good watch.

Go Hogs.

WR London Humphries, OT Anthony Miles, CB Martel Hight, and LB Dante Kelly all earn 4 star status according to On3. Interesting to see how Shannon Terry’s guys view our 2023 signees.

If you subscribe to the Tennessean, there is a ton of Vanderbilt mentions in this article. It's the best high school football players in Middle Tennessee during the 1970's. The Vanderbilt mentions include Mike Wright, Preston Brown, Terry Potter, Leo Martin, David Culley, David Alsup, Ronald Hale, Dennis Harrison, Tim Bryant, John Pointer, Curtis Lusk, Lonnie Sadler, and Barry Burton. I am familiar with some of these guys from stories about back in the day.

LSU coach Jay Johnson has them playing their midweek at Texas Stadium saying they want to experience a hostile road environment before SEC ball. Not a bad idea.
*BTW Christian Little has been pitching lights out for them so far.

Kansas over Texas Tech
USC over Mississippi State
San Diego State over Boise State
UVA over Clemson

Who else?

I think Joey will be there to cover, I'll post lineups when they are released.

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How does Mitch Light feel about the state of Vanderbilt football heading into Clark Lea's second year? That's the main topic of our latest podcast, with some talk about the state of Vanderbilt baseball thrown in. Also, Mitch discusses the uncertain world of NIL.

Vanderbilt started spring practice this morning around 8. Everything was open and here’s a report on what’s notable.
Vanderbilt’s policies of day-by-day reporting on depth charts, and reporting on injuries before the school gets those out there remain. Other than that, most everything is fair game.
Full disclosure—I spent a lot of time trying to see who was where and what’s different, who stands where in the pecking order. I’ll probably need another day of that just to make sure I’ve got that right in my notes and that sometimes takes away from seeing who did what. I also missed the first 30 minutes thanks to a traffic jam.
Anyway…

What’s changed

• Logan Kyle has moved from wide receiver to tight end.
• Ben Cox, who has started several games along the offensive line, has taken medial retirement.
• De’Rickey Wright is now strictly a safety and so is Jaylen Mahoney.
• I was told that several heights and weights had changed, that would require a deeper dive against past reported heights and weights that I don’t have the time to undertake right now. But they are reflected at the roster on VUCommodores.com, I’m told.

What stood out
Today was mostly drills and 7-on-7 skeleton work, but a few guys did some things of note:

• WR Quincy Skinner had a couple of nice TD catches in 7-on-7 work, at least one of which came from QB Drew Dickey.
• WR Wilson Long had probably the longest catch of the day, that also going for a TD.
• WR Richie Hoskins also had one of the day’s better catches, that also going for a TD.
• S Marlen Sewell had a nice pick and added a short return after it.
• They don’t have any scholarship kickers in camp, so, that leaves Will Faris as the best option for now.
• I did spot early enrollees—LB Ethan Crisp, RB Sedrick Alexander—out there getting a little time.

Who’s out/limited

• DL Miles Capers (recovering from surgery—present but not doing much that I saw)
• DL Bradley Mann (recovering from surgery—present but not doing much that I saw)
• WR Will Sheppard (load management)
• DB/LB CJ Taylor load management)
• TE Justin Ball (not sure if it’s load management or injury-related, I didn’t see anything to indicate injury)
• DL Yilanan Outtara (not sure if it’s load management or injury-related, I didn’t see anything to indicate injury)
• I’m pretty sure there were others but those are the ones I noticed. Will follow up more with this one on Thursday. After some reflection, I don't recall seeing DL Daevion Davis or DL Devin Lee participating. I'd have probably noticed if they did. I may be wrong there but it's something for me to watch next time.

Other things to note:

• Former players Will Holden and Oren Burks were present.
• There was talk from players and also coach Clark Lea of a bowl game. I don’t recall this being discussed the past two years but clearly this is a goal and they are not shy about discussing it. This means absolutely nothing but fans want to know these things, and there is a very clear sense of optimism prevalent between the way the team progressed at season’s end, facilities coming, etc.

The backup QB position will be interesting to watch. Who ends up at inside linebacker? Do our young DB's make a jump and contribute? Thoughts?

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I asked him a question about his choice to stick around when he probably had options, his answer seemed to speak to belief in what they're doing.

Just got home, my mom is out of the hospital but Oreo suddenly has some urgent need he's letting me know about. As soon as I can tend to that and get started, here's what is coming:
- A practice report on today (keep your hopes in check--it's the first day that's mostly following what's different and such.)
- Video interviews of Clark Lea, Ethan Barr, Will Sheppard, Bradley Ashore and Jaylen Mahoney.

I'll be back at it out there on Thursday.

has been posted.