The Vanderbilt Commodores are still in proving mode, even after their first 10-win season in program history.
Clark Lea is entering his sixth season in Nashville, having capitalized on the success of quarterback Diego Pavia the past two years. The Commodores averaged 38.5 points per game a year ago, their highest such clip since 1915, but Pavia is now trying to earn a roster spot with the Baltimore Ravens.
That has led to plenty of projections that this year’s Commodores will plummet from last year’s 10-2 regular-season record back towards the Southeastern Conference cellar.
“I love the doubt and the hate,” Lea said Tuesday as SEC media days continued in Tampa. “You don’t take the job at Vanderbilt without having a chip on your shoulder. We say that we’re a team of misfits. We love being counted out, and we just go to work on the things within us that we have control over to build the strongest program inside out.
“Last year is done. That chapter has been written. It really wasn’t a defining moment for our program. It was another step in the climb.”
Pavia threw for 3,539 yards, completed 70.6% of his passes and was the nation’s third-rated quarterback in efficiency behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin. The dynamic 5-foot-10, 203-pound, former New Mexico State transfer would finish as the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Mendoza.
Vying to replace Pavia are redshirt junior Blaze Berlowitz, who played in six games last season, and five-star early enrollee Jared Curtis, who led Nashville Christian to the past two TSSAA Division II-A state championships at Finley Stadium. Curtis is the highest-rated signee in Vanderbilt history.
Redshirt sophomore and former Baylor School standout Whit Muschamp will likely be Vanderbilt’s third-team quarterback.
“Obviously it’s going to be different,” Lea said, “and we have to be skilled enough to adjust and adapt the offense to make sure we’re in the best position to move the ball, score points and win games, because that’s what the goal is in the end. If you step back and talk about replacing one player, I don’t know that you do that. I think you can strengthen in other areas. There is room for us to improve defensively, so we’re going to focus on that. On special teams, we performed at a high level in a lot of areas, but one where we didn’t was on punt returns, and that’s a chance to establish field position for the offense.
“When you look at our offense in general, we have a talented and experienced line. Some of them are new, but they’re bringing snaps from other programs. I think we feel really good about where we are there, and our backfield is as good as any in the league. We’re going to look to strengthen around the quarterback position, and whoever can best move the other 10 players forward on the field will be the guy. We have an idea of where that sits right now, but we want to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves and let the competition play out the first couple of weeks in preseason camp.”
Hosting the Vols
When the SEC had divisions from 1992 until 2023, South Carolina faced Tennessee all 32 of those years as Eastern Division foes.
The Volunteers won their last encounter, 41-20 in 2023, but they were ambushed 63-38 a year earlier inside Williams-Brice Stadium. Tennessee entered that 2022 pairing with a 9-1 record and was in the hunt for the final four-team College Football Playoff.
On Oct. 24, the Vols will play in Columbia for the first time since.
“That was a great night back in 2022, no doubt about it,” South Carolina sixth-year coach Shane Beamer said. “We know it will be a huge challenge when they come to town this year. We’re playing Georgia again, too, but it’s been weird not playing Tennessee the last couple of years. It will be great having Tennessee back on the schedule this season with Florida as well, so there are three old SEC East opponents and rivals for South Carolina.
“I’ve got a ton of respect for Coach (Josh) Heupel and the way he does things. We know he’s going to have a really good team coming to town. I was so impressed watching SEC media days yesterday and the three players who he brought, but that will be a big one when we get to that one. Hopefully we can have the offensive output that we had the last time they were in town.”
Current New Orleans Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler shredded Tennessee in that 2022 matchup, throwing for 438 yards and six touchdowns.
Banking on Byrum
Auburn first-year coach and former Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh made his media days debut Tuesday, hoping to extend the success he produced at USF.
Golesh left the Vols before their 2022 season concluded with an Orange Bowl thumping of Clemson to take over a Bulls program that went 4-29 in the 2020-22 seasons. He went 7-6 in each of his first two years before going 9-4, which earned him the Auburn invite.
Following Golesh to the Plains is 6-3, 238-pound quarterback Byrum Brown, who threw for 7,690 yards in 36 USF games with 61 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. He also rushed for 31 scores.
The biggest question both Golesh and Brown have faced the past seven months is whether Brown’s game can translate to the SEC.
“He would probably be the first to tell you to put the film on, and that if you can play, you can play,” Golesh said. “Some of his best moments have come against the best competition. We went to Gainesville a year ago, and the look in his eye in the fourth quarter was the exact look you want. He wanted the ball in his hands.
“He’s played in Tuscaloosa. He’s played Miami. He’s played in some big-ass games in the American Conference as well. For him, this is such a moment of, ‘I can’t wait to show the country who I am on the biggest stage in college football.’ Our coaches and now our players are as confident as ever that not only will it translate, but he’s going to thrive.”
When Brown was asked about that Tuesday, he said, “I’m just going to follow my process and do the same thing every day. It’s a larger scale and a better conference, no question about that.”
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Heading Golesh’s defense will be DJ Durkin, who is entering his third year with the Tigers. Durkin was also Auburn’s interim coach for the last three games last season after Hugh Freeze was fired.
“He’s been awesome in the sense of roster identification, and he’s just had my back,” Golesh said. “We sat down with the understanding that this was going to be different, and through these first seven months, he’s been nothing but a pro in how he’s helped me spread the message to both sides of the ball.
“He’s uber competitive, which has helped drive the competitiveness on the offensive side of the ball.”
Expanding family
Lea was asked on the SEC Network about the arrival of his fourth child later this year.
“It’s due in November,” Lea said. “It will be somewhere between Mississippi State on the road and Alabama at home.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.