Tennessee’s Jonathan Kongbo grabs onto Vanderbilt quarterback Kyle Shurmur as he runs the ball during Vanderbilt’s 42-24 victory last November in Knoxville. Shurmur threw four touchdown passes as the Commodores beat their in-state rivals for the second straight year.VANDERBILT
› Last season: 5-7 (1-7 SEC)› 2018 opener: Sept. 1 vs. Middle Tennessee State in Nashville (7:30 p.m. EDT on SEC Network)› Fun fact: Vanderbilt’s 4-2 record against Tennessee the past six seasons is the best stretch for the Commodores in the series since the early 1920s.
Vanderbilt senior quarterback Kyle Shurmur admits he has had quite the privileged life in the football world.
The son of first-year New York Giants and former Cleveland Browns head coach Pat Shurmur was raised in NFL training camps and stadiums, eagerly helping out in various ways. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Shurmur remembers serving as a ball boy with the Philadelphia Eagles when his dad was their quarterbacks coach.
“I was in second grade, and the Eagles had their training camp up at Lehigh University,” Shurmur said at SEC Media Days. “Obviously I was a little guy at that time, so I had to stand really far back away from the players so I didn’t get run over. It was a fun experience.
“I’ve been around several NFL organizations, and I’ve always thought it was so cool to see professionals work.”