GENERAL NEWS AND NOTES
Vanderbilt held a private scrimmage on Thursday morning, the last 30 minutes or so being open to the media. It was outside at the stadium and overcast, and not as hot as it was on Tuesday.
Interestingly, there were no red jerseys, which made it tougher to spot who was hurt and who wasn’t. I suspect they could have done this to make it a bit less obvious to spot injuries, but I don’t know.
They will have a scrimmage Saturday—we’ll get to see some of that—and then they’ll close everything to the media from there, though we will get player and coach access once or twice a week.
I also talked to linebackers coach Warren Belin afterwards; I’ll put that up after the practice report.
He was standing in front of me and I never got a clean look at the front of his face, but I think former VU/NFL offensive lineman Chris Williams was at practice today.
Here are some news, notes and takeaways
NON-PARTICIPANTS
Among players I didn’t see participating (there may have been more). These are all names you’ve seen in this space before:
OL Bailey Granier (in street clothes)
OL Ean Pfeifer (I didn’t see him at all)
FB Bailey McElwain
LB Kenny Hebert
WR Caleb Scott
I also saw WR C.J. Duncan come off the field and head across to McGugin about 15 minutes before the end of practice with what looked like a member of the training staff. I didn’t see any obvious ailments—no limping, no favoring of a shoulder or anything like that—but he was moving very slowly. I don’t have any information to indicate whether it’s a concern or not.
NOTES
DE Jalen Pinkney had a nice break-up at the line of scrimmage today. Again, they really like him, and DE Dayo Odeningbo, and DE Stone Edwards, all true freshman. This is not new news, but if you haven’t seen me speak about it before, I get a strong feeling that some combination of those three will play.
S Ryan White also had a nice pass break-up today.
QB Shawn Stankavage got more snaps than I’d seen him get in past practices. I didn’t really take anything good or bad away from what he showed.
TE Cody Markel got some reps as a long snapper today. Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig brought his name up and said he’ll get some reps at tight end in some packages this year. Markel is a redshirt freshman walk-on from Wisconsin.
Speaking of walk-ons, I haven’t asked about 285-pound walk-on Josh Learned, but he seems to be getting a decent number of reps and not embarrassing himself. I don’t think he sees any meaningful time this year, but that could be a guy to watch a couple years down the road perhaps as a depth piece.
Walk-on David Floyd was a name we gave you in similar fashion this year, and he was getting some offensive line reps today, too.
One hint that a coaching staff thinks a player may contribute down the line is when a second-year walk-on is listed as a redshirt freshman instead of just as a sophomore. That’s the case with both Floyd and Learned.
In another “old news” item, WR Trent Sherfield and WR Kalija Lipscomb were getting reps as punt returners.
RB Keyshawn Vaughn got a few running back reps today. Again, no takeaways one way or the other and I didn’t focus him a lot, especially since he’s redshirting. He wears No. 5.
Players I saw taking reps at the various offensive line spots today, in the approximate order of the most number of reps:
LT: Justin Skule, Cole Clemens, Jonathan Stewart
LG: Saige Young, Bryce Bailey, John Learned
C: Sean Auwae McMoore, Bruno Reagan
RG: Jared Southers, Egidio DellaRipa, David Floyd
RT: Devin Cochran, Jared Southers, Darion DeBrossard
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I think it’s fair to start talking about the offensive line as a potential concern. I think that internally, they think that it has potential to be a good unit. I agree. Offensive line coach Cameron Norcross was really, really excited about the newcomers he brought in this year, and after seeing them on the field, I can see why.
I think in terms of physical ability, it’s an SEC-caliber unit. They’ve never had this many physically-impressive bodies at the offensive line, ever, since I’ve covered the team in 14 years. These guys are tall, massive and there isn’t a lot of wasted weight.
But let’s also be honest: football outcomes aren’t determined by how good you look standing in your uniform. A lot is determined by experience and continuity playing together, and that’s a bit of a challenge right now. I don’t know long both Bailey Grainier and Ean Pfeifer are going to be out, but not seeing them in uniform at least puts that at the top of things I’m watching on Saturday.
And remember, both those kids were projected to start.
There has been an awful lot of shuffling on the offensive line, and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig suggested today that has something to do with it.
I suspect if the season started today, you’d see this:
LT: Skule
LG: Young
C: Reagan
RG: Southers
RT: Cochran
I think that’s a line with some talent and with the potential to be good, but when you start looking behind that, there’s nobody who’s played an SEC snap. Also, Cochran’s next collegiate snap will be his first. And again, while they have talent, I think it’s naive to think that’s not a concern.
I’ll say what I’ve said all along: I think this is a good team. I think there is the potential for this team to enter November with more to play for than usual for Vanderbilt. But things have to go right in terms of health and catching breaks, and while VU started camp in a great position in that regard, this could be the first crack of a concern.
An injury to Duncan, if that's what it was, could put a moderate dent in the receiving corps, too.
I’ll keep you guys posted on what I hear.
Vanderbilt held a private scrimmage on Thursday morning, the last 30 minutes or so being open to the media. It was outside at the stadium and overcast, and not as hot as it was on Tuesday.
Interestingly, there were no red jerseys, which made it tougher to spot who was hurt and who wasn’t. I suspect they could have done this to make it a bit less obvious to spot injuries, but I don’t know.
They will have a scrimmage Saturday—we’ll get to see some of that—and then they’ll close everything to the media from there, though we will get player and coach access once or twice a week.
I also talked to linebackers coach Warren Belin afterwards; I’ll put that up after the practice report.
He was standing in front of me and I never got a clean look at the front of his face, but I think former VU/NFL offensive lineman Chris Williams was at practice today.
Here are some news, notes and takeaways
NON-PARTICIPANTS
Among players I didn’t see participating (there may have been more). These are all names you’ve seen in this space before:
OL Bailey Granier (in street clothes)
OL Ean Pfeifer (I didn’t see him at all)
FB Bailey McElwain
LB Kenny Hebert
WR Caleb Scott
I also saw WR C.J. Duncan come off the field and head across to McGugin about 15 minutes before the end of practice with what looked like a member of the training staff. I didn’t see any obvious ailments—no limping, no favoring of a shoulder or anything like that—but he was moving very slowly. I don’t have any information to indicate whether it’s a concern or not.
NOTES
DE Jalen Pinkney had a nice break-up at the line of scrimmage today. Again, they really like him, and DE Dayo Odeningbo, and DE Stone Edwards, all true freshman. This is not new news, but if you haven’t seen me speak about it before, I get a strong feeling that some combination of those three will play.
S Ryan White also had a nice pass break-up today.
QB Shawn Stankavage got more snaps than I’d seen him get in past practices. I didn’t really take anything good or bad away from what he showed.
TE Cody Markel got some reps as a long snapper today. Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig brought his name up and said he’ll get some reps at tight end in some packages this year. Markel is a redshirt freshman walk-on from Wisconsin.
Speaking of walk-ons, I haven’t asked about 285-pound walk-on Josh Learned, but he seems to be getting a decent number of reps and not embarrassing himself. I don’t think he sees any meaningful time this year, but that could be a guy to watch a couple years down the road perhaps as a depth piece.
Walk-on David Floyd was a name we gave you in similar fashion this year, and he was getting some offensive line reps today, too.
One hint that a coaching staff thinks a player may contribute down the line is when a second-year walk-on is listed as a redshirt freshman instead of just as a sophomore. That’s the case with both Floyd and Learned.
In another “old news” item, WR Trent Sherfield and WR Kalija Lipscomb were getting reps as punt returners.
RB Keyshawn Vaughn got a few running back reps today. Again, no takeaways one way or the other and I didn’t focus him a lot, especially since he’s redshirting. He wears No. 5.
Players I saw taking reps at the various offensive line spots today, in the approximate order of the most number of reps:
LT: Justin Skule, Cole Clemens, Jonathan Stewart
LG: Saige Young, Bryce Bailey, John Learned
C: Sean Auwae McMoore, Bruno Reagan
RG: Jared Southers, Egidio DellaRipa, David Floyd
RT: Devin Cochran, Jared Southers, Darion DeBrossard
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I think it’s fair to start talking about the offensive line as a potential concern. I think that internally, they think that it has potential to be a good unit. I agree. Offensive line coach Cameron Norcross was really, really excited about the newcomers he brought in this year, and after seeing them on the field, I can see why.
I think in terms of physical ability, it’s an SEC-caliber unit. They’ve never had this many physically-impressive bodies at the offensive line, ever, since I’ve covered the team in 14 years. These guys are tall, massive and there isn’t a lot of wasted weight.
But let’s also be honest: football outcomes aren’t determined by how good you look standing in your uniform. A lot is determined by experience and continuity playing together, and that’s a bit of a challenge right now. I don’t know long both Bailey Grainier and Ean Pfeifer are going to be out, but not seeing them in uniform at least puts that at the top of things I’m watching on Saturday.
And remember, both those kids were projected to start.
There has been an awful lot of shuffling on the offensive line, and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig suggested today that has something to do with it.
I suspect if the season started today, you’d see this:
LT: Skule
LG: Young
C: Reagan
RG: Southers
RT: Cochran
I think that’s a line with some talent and with the potential to be good, but when you start looking behind that, there’s nobody who’s played an SEC snap. Also, Cochran’s next collegiate snap will be his first. And again, while they have talent, I think it’s naive to think that’s not a concern.
I’ll say what I’ve said all along: I think this is a good team. I think there is the potential for this team to enter November with more to play for than usual for Vanderbilt. But things have to go right in terms of health and catching breaks, and while VU started camp in a great position in that regard, this could be the first crack of a concern.
An injury to Duncan, if that's what it was, could put a moderate dent in the receiving corps, too.
I’ll keep you guys posted on what I hear.
