Zac Stacy willing to share glory at Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt senior tailback Zac Stacy will be hard-pressed to match last season’s production, and he knows that may not be all bad.

Stacy set a school single-season record a year ago by rushing 201 times for 1,193 yards, but the Commodores expect to be much deeper at his position in coach James Franklin’s second season. Redshirt junior Warren Norman, the 2009 Southeastern Conference freshman of the year, is back after missing last season with a knee injury, and freshman Brian Kimbrow is among the most touted Vandy signees in the modern era.

Kimbrow rushed for 1,969 yards last year at Memphis East High School, averaging 10.5 yards a carry.

“I’m not a selfish guy, and if Warren or Kimbrow get the start, then so be it,” Stacy said at SEC media days. “Kimbrow is a great athlete and a very fast guy, and I think we’re going to be able to utilize his speed in so many ways. We definitely can use him, and we expect him to make an impact.”

Stacy has some experience in the impact department.

The 5-foot-9, 210-pounder from Centreville, Ala., ran for 133 yards and a touchdown in his Vandy debut in 2009 – a 45-0 waxing of Western Carolina. He had a 62-yard touchdown run against Georgia Tech his first year and followed it up with a sophomore season that contained a 67-yard run against Ole Miss.

Then came last year, when Stacy led every SEC rusher except former Alabama tailback Trent Richardson and former Auburn tailback Michael Dyer and became Vanderbilt’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Jermaine Johnson in 1995.

“When you think of an SEC running back, you think of power and you think of speed and the ability to make people miss,” Stacy said. “You think of a big guy, but I’m not a big guy. That’s one of the things that stands out with me. Personally, I feel like I play much bigger than my size, and I think I use my size to get yards after contact and try to be that every-down back in this league.”

Stacy had just one 100-yard game through the first six weeks of last season, but then Jordan Rodgers became the starting quarterback. Whether Stacy opened up the pass for Rodgers or Rodgers opened up the run for Stacy, the Commodores began to click offensively.

They scored 21 or more points in each of their final eight games, and Stacy had 100-yard performances down the stretch against Army, Arkansas, Kentucky and Wake Forest. The Commodores had to defeat Wake Forest to attain bowl eligibility with a 6-6 regular season, and Stacy shredded the Demon Deacons for 184 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries.

“He is going to be instrumental in our success as an offense,” Rodgers said. “The best friend of a quarterback is a good running game, so if we can establish that running game, it’s going to open up the chance for me to throw the ball around the field. He is an unbelievable player, and I think he is only going to get better.”

Said Franklin: “I couldn’t be more pleased with Zac’s development and how he comes to work every day with a blue-collar mentality. I think he’s got a chance to have a really, really good year for us, and we need him to.”

The Commodores have nine starters back offensively from a unit that averaged 26.7 points per game, which was the second-highest average for the program in the past six decades.

Seven starters are back defensively, but replacing linebacker Chris Marve and defensive backs Casey Hayward and Sean Richardson will not be easy. Hayward and Richardson each were drafted by the Green Bay Packers, while Marve led the team a year ago with 91 tackles and is now at Vanderbilt Law School.

Despite last season’s success and the amount of returning starters, Vanderbilt has been picked just sixth in the seven-team SEC East.

“One of the main things Coach Franklin has instilled in us is confidence, and we want to keep our confidence throughout this season,” Stacy said. “I pretty much don’t want to change anything I did a year ago and just be consistent.”