Friday, January 16, 2009

Thad McHaney could be headed to Vanderbilt


If you look at the recruiting tracker on rivals.com, Thad McHaney is no longer committed to Ole Miss. In fact, he no longer has an offer from Ole Miss. But he still has an offer from Oklahoma, Tennessee, Auburn and a bunch of other traditional powerhouses, which would lead one to believe that the Rebels pulled their offer because McHaney decommitted.

And, if you believe online comments from both Vanderbilt and Ole Miss fans, McHaney has committed to the Commodores. This would be a huge catch for Vanderbilt. Though McHaney is listed as a tight end, scouts have long speculated that he will end up as a defensive lineman in college, and that seems a good possibility at Vanderbilt as sophomores Branden Barden and Austin Monahan are both huge, athletic targets at tight end. Oh, and Vanderbilt is always a little short on D-linemen.

Though the Commodores traditionally send linemen on both sides of the ball straight to the redshirt factory, you'd think McHaney has a shot to get playing time if he indeed makes the long trek from Brentwood to West End. Remember that Broderick Stewart was also 6-5 and athletic when he came out of high school, but he weighed only 195 and spent a year as a redshirt eating Magic's cooking. Three years later, he's gained 35 pound and still weighs 10 pounds less than the 18-year-old McHaney does now.

The healthy eater award has to go to Thomas Welch, who arrived on campus in 2005 as a 235-pound tight end and today is a 305-pound tackle. Let's hope Wesley Johnson, the 3-star offensive tackle recruit from Nashville, also likes to strap on the feedbag.

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