Vandy played their first scrimmage of spring ball yesterday as you all know we still do not have credentials but I caught up with 2 of the players who told me about it.
On the offense:
- MK Young was out with a concussion, Newberry is still out after tearing his ACL last November, and Johann Cardenas got injured on one of the first plays of the game.
- I continue to hear great things about Young but he obviously didn’t get to play today, sounds like the running back room was worse off for it. Seddy was said to be solid in the snaps he got but he barely played.
- O line: Jordan White sounds like the real deal. He brings an element of athleticism that wasn’t there last year and can get up to the second level with blocking. Sterling Porcher still isn’t with the rest of the team and Bryce Henderson is just now getting integrated but it sounds like there are some bruisers. Didn’t get detailed breakdowns on any of them but Henderson is a bruiser and “nobody is worse than who played their position last year” which is encouraging.
- WRs. The biggest movement here has been that Martel Hight is pulling a Travis Hunter and splitting time between CB and WR. When I asked how he’s looked there I got a shake of the head and a “man that dude’s hard to guard”. Apparently he had a very big reception today on top of a few more intermediate catches. He’s got both a quickness and burst that makes him really, really hard to stay with (asc we’ve seen with him at PR) despite his relative rawness at the position. Junior Sherrill apparently didn’t do much today but has been looking solid throughout spring. It was a notable step up from last year’s spring performance according to a CB. Boski Barrett is also a guy who he said is making some progress, although if I’m being fully transparent I really don’t know what that means. Joe McVay has apparently been missing a bunch of practices (very unfortunate, he’s a breakout candidate and needs this time to develop). Tried to give it a go today but didn’t do much. When I asked about Chance Fitzgerald I was told “he’s nice” but didn’t do much today. Apparently has a knack for hauling in some tough catches. Trent Hudson doesn’t arrive until the spring.
- TEs: Here’s another big storyline to monitor. Stowers has been out injured and it sounds like Brycen Coleman has been making the absolute most of it. When I asked about him this was the answer verbatim: “That dude don’t look like it but he nice as f***, literally had a 75 yard touchdown where nobody could get him.” Apparently that TD was called back for holding but I think yall get the point. He also had a 20-25 yard TD reception that counted, too. Apparently he’s just a matchup nightmare: way too fast for any LB to cover but then he’s 6’5-6’6 and corners really struggle if the ball is thrown up to him. Cole Spence has been playing but again is mostly used as a blocker. Kam Johnson hasn’t done much which I was disappointed to hear. I honestly have no clue how Coleman will be used this year once Stowers comes back (I don’t think he’d be lined up as a receiver, who knows though) but it sounds like he’s just too talented to be kept off the field.
Defense:
This will be a good bit more vague as I didn’t get a lot of individual info aside from the secondary.
- D Line: They’ve been disruptive and apparently the RBs have had a helluva time trying to get past them in practice (not sure how that bodes for the O-line). Khordae Syndor has been out but I’m not aware of any other significant injuries. Again, doesn’t necessarily sound like there will be many “stars” on the line this year but there are a lot of quality players and some decent depth.
- LBs: This is where I got the least info. I was just told that they’ve been “alright, nothing bad” without any big standouts either positively or negatively.
CBs: Hight is unquestionably CB1, he’s really, really good. We’ll see how splitting time affects his play, though. Behind Hight it sounds like there is some quality depth if not another star. Mark Davis, Jordan Matthews, Jaylin Lackey, and Marlon Jones Jr all bring slightly different looks but are all solid options. Jones Jr is still working himself back to full form after beating cancer last year. This is just me guessing here but given that there isn’t a ton of separation between those CBs but they all have different looks and skill sets I think they could be rotated a lot and used situationally, the CB I was talking to agreed. Kolbey Taylor is still with the team, but I did not inquire about his play.
- Safeties: There really isn’t a lot of depth in this room and that’s pretty scary. I was told Dontae Carter made a few nice plays in the scrimmage including an INT, he’s apparently made some strides this spring which was very needed. CJ Heard was described to me as “solid” and a “hard hitter”. They also said he might be the pound-for-pound strongest guy on the team. Marlen Sewell is cut from a similar cloth- isn’t the fastest or best in coverage but he’ll lay a bone crunching hit on you if he gets the chance. I didn’t hear many specifics on him and I think we already know what he’s going to give. Freshman Carson Lawrence was described as having a “high ceiling” and “making some nice plays” through spring practice, although they didn’t recall him doing much in the scrimmage. Jalen Gilbert has been in and out with an injury. I forgot about Tate Hamby when talking to them but given that they didn’t even mention him when breaking down that might say enough on its own.
On the offense:
- MK Young was out with a concussion, Newberry is still out after tearing his ACL last November, and Johann Cardenas got injured on one of the first plays of the game.
- I continue to hear great things about Young but he obviously didn’t get to play today, sounds like the running back room was worse off for it. Seddy was said to be solid in the snaps he got but he barely played.
- O line: Jordan White sounds like the real deal. He brings an element of athleticism that wasn’t there last year and can get up to the second level with blocking. Sterling Porcher still isn’t with the rest of the team and Bryce Henderson is just now getting integrated but it sounds like there are some bruisers. Didn’t get detailed breakdowns on any of them but Henderson is a bruiser and “nobody is worse than who played their position last year” which is encouraging.
- WRs. The biggest movement here has been that Martel Hight is pulling a Travis Hunter and splitting time between CB and WR. When I asked how he’s looked there I got a shake of the head and a “man that dude’s hard to guard”. Apparently he had a very big reception today on top of a few more intermediate catches. He’s got both a quickness and burst that makes him really, really hard to stay with (asc we’ve seen with him at PR) despite his relative rawness at the position. Junior Sherrill apparently didn’t do much today but has been looking solid throughout spring. It was a notable step up from last year’s spring performance according to a CB. Boski Barrett is also a guy who he said is making some progress, although if I’m being fully transparent I really don’t know what that means. Joe McVay has apparently been missing a bunch of practices (very unfortunate, he’s a breakout candidate and needs this time to develop). Tried to give it a go today but didn’t do much. When I asked about Chance Fitzgerald I was told “he’s nice” but didn’t do much today. Apparently has a knack for hauling in some tough catches. Trent Hudson doesn’t arrive until the spring.
- TEs: Here’s another big storyline to monitor. Stowers has been out injured and it sounds like Brycen Coleman has been making the absolute most of it. When I asked about him this was the answer verbatim: “That dude don’t look like it but he nice as f***, literally had a 75 yard touchdown where nobody could get him.” Apparently that TD was called back for holding but I think yall get the point. He also had a 20-25 yard TD reception that counted, too. Apparently he’s just a matchup nightmare: way too fast for any LB to cover but then he’s 6’5-6’6 and corners really struggle if the ball is thrown up to him. Cole Spence has been playing but again is mostly used as a blocker. Kam Johnson hasn’t done much which I was disappointed to hear. I honestly have no clue how Coleman will be used this year once Stowers comes back (I don’t think he’d be lined up as a receiver, who knows though) but it sounds like he’s just too talented to be kept off the field.
Defense:
This will be a good bit more vague as I didn’t get a lot of individual info aside from the secondary.
- D Line: They’ve been disruptive and apparently the RBs have had a helluva time trying to get past them in practice (not sure how that bodes for the O-line). Khordae Syndor has been out but I’m not aware of any other significant injuries. Again, doesn’t necessarily sound like there will be many “stars” on the line this year but there are a lot of quality players and some decent depth.
- LBs: This is where I got the least info. I was just told that they’ve been “alright, nothing bad” without any big standouts either positively or negatively.
CBs: Hight is unquestionably CB1, he’s really, really good. We’ll see how splitting time affects his play, though. Behind Hight it sounds like there is some quality depth if not another star. Mark Davis, Jordan Matthews, Jaylin Lackey, and Marlon Jones Jr all bring slightly different looks but are all solid options. Jones Jr is still working himself back to full form after beating cancer last year. This is just me guessing here but given that there isn’t a ton of separation between those CBs but they all have different looks and skill sets I think they could be rotated a lot and used situationally, the CB I was talking to agreed. Kolbey Taylor is still with the team, but I did not inquire about his play.
- Safeties: There really isn’t a lot of depth in this room and that’s pretty scary. I was told Dontae Carter made a few nice plays in the scrimmage including an INT, he’s apparently made some strides this spring which was very needed. CJ Heard was described to me as “solid” and a “hard hitter”. They also said he might be the pound-for-pound strongest guy on the team. Marlen Sewell is cut from a similar cloth- isn’t the fastest or best in coverage but he’ll lay a bone crunching hit on you if he gets the chance. I didn’t hear many specifics on him and I think we already know what he’s going to give. Freshman Carson Lawrence was described as having a “high ceiling” and “making some nice plays” through spring practice, although they didn’t recall him doing much in the scrimmage. Jalen Gilbert has been in and out with an injury. I forgot about Tate Hamby when talking to them but given that they didn’t even mention him when breaking down that might say enough on its own.
