Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur scrambles away from Tennessee's Derek Barnett during their intrastate rivalry matchup this past November in Nashville, a 45-34 Vanderbilt victory. Shurmur is among the returning starters the Commodores expect to count on again in 2017.The Vanderbilt Commodores will begin spring football practice this morning with the goal of building on what they accomplished last November and forgetting what transpired in late December.
Vanderbilt used double-digit upsets of Ole Miss and Tennessee late last season to clinch the program's fourth bowl bid in six years and the first under coach Derek Mason. The Commodores were invited to the Camping World Independence Bowl, where they were thumped 41-17 by North Carolina State to finish 6-7, but 16 of 22 starters return to provide Mason plenty of optimism in his fourth season at the helm.
"This is a great opportunity for our guys to find out what this 2017 team is," Mason told reporters recently in Nashville. "For us, having those practices during the bowl season was great, and we've got to utilize all 15 of these practices. We need development at all positions, and we need to see what deficiencies we have so we can bridge the gaps during summer workouts as we push into fall."
South Carolina was the first Southeastern Conference school to begin spring practice, with the Gamecocks starting this past Saturday.
Among the nine returning offensive starters for Vanderbilt are quarterback Kyle Shurmur and tailback Ralph Webb. Shurmur started all 13 games last season as a sophomore and completed 38 of 65 passes for 689 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in triumphs over Ole Miss, 38-17, and Tennessee, 45-34, but he was disastrous in the bowl, completing 19 of 46 passes with three interceptions.
Webb is already the leading rusher in school history entering his senior season, having gained 1,283 yards last year and 3,347 for his career, but he will run behind a line that must replace left tackle Will Holden and center Barrett Gouger, the former Baylor School standout.
The biggest challenge defensively will be replacing All-America inside linebacker Zach Cunningham, who racked up a league-leading 125 tackles last year, saved the 17-16 upset of Georgia with a fourth-and-1 stop of Isaiah McKenzie and had the Superman highlight of vaulting over the line to block a Daniel Carlson field-goal attempt in a loss at Auburn.
Owen Burks, who played some inside linebacker last season as well as the "star" position, could be this year's defensive leader, as could former East Hamilton cornerback Tre Herndon. Burks and Herndon are seniors who combined for 100 tackles a year ago.
Vanderbilt is the only SEC school not staging a spring game this year, but the Commodores are holding a "Spring Showcase" on March 25 with a player autograph session afterward.
"It's really not much different," Mason said. "We're still going to scrimmage and get the work done that we need to situationally."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.