Vanderbilt inside linebacker Zach Cunningham, a redshirt junior this past season and the first Commodores football player ever to earn consensus All-America honors, announced Sunday he is forgoing his final season of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.
Cunningham led the Southeastern Conference with 125 tackles and four fumble recoveries during the 2016 season. The Butkus Award semifinalist ranked third in the league with 16.5 tackles for loss.
"We could not be more proud of Zach Cunningham and what he has accomplished as a student-athlete at Vanderbilt," Commodores coach Derek Mason said Sunday afternoon in a released statement. "Zach leaves West End among the most decorated players in Commodore football history, and he works as hard as any student-athlete I have ever coached. Zach's been a great pleasure to coach and a tremendous teammate.
"Vanderbilt is indebted to Zach for his impact on our football program, on and off the field. Zach will always be a Vanderbilt man, and we wish him years of success in the NFL."
A CBS mock NFL draft posted late last week had Cunningham, a 6-foot-4, 238-pounder from Pinson, Ala., going 29th overall to the Oakland Raiders.
Cunningham earned unanimous National Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording 19 tackles in a 17-16 win at Georgia, including a fourth-and-1 stop of Bulldogs receiver Isaiah McKenzie in the waning moments. He had an acrobatic block of a Daniel Carlson field-goal attempt during a 23-16 loss at Auburn, and his last regular-season performance included 10 tackles and a forced fumble in a 45-34 win over Tennessee.
In his three-year playing career, Cunningham compiled 295 tackles, 39.5 tackles for loss, seven forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.