Some NFL news while we wait for Vandy to practice

The Commodores start preseason practice tomorrow. By the weekend, look for us to preview the team as it enters camp, including who's likely to win key battles for starting and key backup positions. Anything specific you'd like us to address?

While we're waiting for camp to start, here's links to some Vandy-related NFL news:

• Nobody's talking about replacing Sean Walker — just finding a couple of guys who can actually catch — but look who's making a splash as a free agent in the Rams camp.

• After floating around for a couple of months as a victim in the Broncos project to purge all Commodores from its roster, Jamie Winborn has signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Cool. Here's a Q&A with Winborn on his new team.

• Oh yeah, you probably heard that Bobby Johnson visited the VanderBears over the weekend. He told a Nashville radio station that about 6,000 Bears fans mobbed Cutler for autographs after a practice.

• Apparently Bears fans continue to clamor for a real receiver, but one columnist asserts that perhaps Earl Bennett is just that.

Earl Bennett was the rare Commodore to play on offense as a true freshman

Have you noticed all the redshirt freshmen on the Vanderbilt roster, including a whopping eight on the defensive line and three on the offensive line?

We all knew Bobby Johnson liked to redshirt players. But how much?

Let's take a look at his recruiting classes from 2005-2008. That starts with the first class of the post-Cutler era, when Johnson had already built a decent talent base and was consistently winning more than two games a year.

In those four classes, the Commodores signed 76 players who've stuck with the program past their first year. Of those, 12 — or less than 16 percent of them — have avoided redshirts. Here's a list:

• Earl Bennett, WR (2005)
• Bryant Hahnfeldt, PK (2005)
• Patrick Benoist, LB (2006)
• Greg Billinger, DT (2006)
• Myron Lewis, DB (2006)
• D.J. Moore, DB (2006)
• Brent Trice, DB-LB (2006)
• Brett Upson, P (2006)
• Theron Kadri, DE (2007)
• John Stokes, LB (2007)
• Casey Hayward, DB (2008)
• Sean Richardson, DB (2008)

Of these 12 guys, only one of them, Earl Bennett, played offense. Two were kickers and the other nine played defense.

Let's look at how often true freshmen play at Vandy, position by position:

KICKERS (2-3, 66 percent)
The team doesn't sign many placekickers and punters, so they're often needed right away. Bryant Hahnfeldt and Brett Upson played as true freshman. This year's likely starter at placekicker, Ryan Fowler, did not.

DEFENSIVE BACKS (4-11, 36 percent)
Johnson won't hesitate to play a talented defensive back as a freshman, and D.J. Moore, Myron Lewis, Casey Hayward and Sean Richardson are proof. (You could include Brent Trice, who began his Commodore career as a safety, but we're grouping him with the linebackers.) This season, expect Eric Samuels, Trey Wilson and maybe even Javon Marshall to take the field as true freshmen.

LINEBACKERS (3-12, 25 percent)
Patrick Benoist, Brent Trice and John Stokes avoided redshirts, but the best NFL prospect in the linebacking corps, Chris Marve, did not.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES (1-7, 14 percent)
Greg Billinger avoided a redshirt, unlike the talented Adam Smotherman and T.J. Greenstone. Kyle Woestmann of the 2010 signing class has set his sights on playing as a true freshman.

WIDE RECEIVER (1-8, 13 percent)
Earl Bennett is the exception to the rule, though true frosh John Cole returned punts in the opener last season before getting injured, missing the remainder of the season and redshirting.

DEFENSIVE ENDS (1-9, 11 percent)
Theron Kadri managed to avoid a redshirt, while starters Broderick Stewart and Steven Stone did not. Thad McHaney will be Johnson's highest rated defensive end recruit ever, but he'll probably take a redshirt too.

QUARTERBACKS (0-3, 0 percent)
Mackenzi Adams, Jared Funk and Larry Smith have all redshirted. Charlie Goro will do the same this year.

TIGHT ENDS (0-4, 0 percent)
If Brandon Barden and Austin Monahan couldn't join Jake Bradford in the lineup as true freshmen, then it's unlikely Mason Johnston will avoid a redshirt this season.

RUNNING BACKS (0-5, 0 percent)
Will likely change this season, when three-star recruits Warren Norman, Zac Stacy and Wesley Tate join the team. Expect at least one of them to play.

OFFENSIVE LINE (0-14, 0 percent)
It's automatic: Regardless of how much weight they need to put on, offensive linemen always take a redshirt at Vanderbilt.

VanderBear update: Earl Bennett turning heads in Chicago Bears camp

In the Chicago Bears camp, everybody from the general manager to the radio analyst is raving about former VU wideout Earl Bennett. We knew having his old pal Jay Cutler around would help. Word was that Bennett struggled last season to learn the Bears playbook and adjust to the pro game, and now everybody's talking about his instincts and his talent and how all his hard work's been paying off.

So is Earl better because he's gotten better, or is he better because he's suddenly got a quarterback who knows exactly where he's gonna be and what he's gonna do?

I'd say it's maybe a combination of both. But the star of the show has undoubtedly been Cutler, who's boggled everybody's minds with his arm strength and accuracy and leadership. Not to mention his pleasant disposition.

Vanderbear Update: D.J. shuts down George — then Earl takes them to Denny's, though he doesn't feel like the number 85

D.J. Moore is already impressing coach Lovie Smith in the Bears' mini camp. He had an especially fine play the other day when he stripped the ball from a receiver. Unfortunately, the receiver was George Smith, D.J.'s former Vandy teammate and a long-shot to even make it to pre-season camp.

But everything's cool. Earl Bennett took D.J. and George out to dinner. To Denny's. Hey, this economy is tough on everybody.

Speaking of Earl, he's changed his number from 85 to 80. “It wasn’t anything specific,” he told the official Bears site. “I just wanted to change my number. I feel like ‘80’ fits me a little bit better. I think it’s in my character. I didn’t really think ‘85’ really fit it."

You know, I don't really feel like an 85 myself.

Did you know that Earl, who didn't have a catch last season, was the No. 1 receiver on the Bears' draft board last year? Who does Earl have photos of?

Turns out that Rex Hogan, a regional scout for the Bears, lives in Nashville and his wife actually works at Vanderbilt. And now the Bears have five Vanderbilt players — six if you count George Smith, which I wouldn't do if I were you.

So what do Hogan and other scouts see in Vanderbilt players? "The one thing scouts in general like about our guys is they're smart guys," says Vandy assistant coach Charlie Fischer. "They're sharp guys on and off the field. They can learn, and they're good locker-room presences. They're stable guys, and that's important."

In D.J.'s case, in addition to his incredible story of perseverance, he's got hops.

“The guy’s got incredible leaping ability," Bears GM Jerry Angelo says of D.J. "He made an interception against Georgia — there aren’t three guys in the league that can make that interception going up for the ball. He’s got some special ball skills.”

So while some NFL folks couldn't get past that one catch A.J. Green had over D.J. in the first quarter, Angelo remembers that great pick against the Dawgs a few minutes later.

And so do I.

D.J. Moore ready for the NFL — forget his 40 and think about his 20

D.J. Moore's stock has dropped since he's been poked and prodded and timed in the combines.

The main knock on him is his 40-yard dash times, which have dropped into the 4.5s. Lately Mel Kiper, the draft guru who projected D.J. as a first-rounder before the combines, now says he could go as late as the third round but will be a steal for somebody once the stop watches are put away and D.J. dons pads.

The other day in a radio interview, Vanderbilt Coach Bobby Johnson said the number that really matters is 20 — as in D.J.'s 20-yard dash time.

"D.J.’s as fast as anybody is in 20 yards," Johnson told Nashville's FM 104.5. "He’s got great ball skills. If we’d kept him on offense all four years, he might have made Earl Bennett second team as far as I’m concerned. If somebody takes him, they’re gonna get a great player."

Jay Cutler and Earl Bennett — together again

Know who's the happiest man in Chicago right now?

Earl Bennett. Because his personal quarterback is coming to town.

When Cutler was starting his senior season at Vanderbilt with six total wins in 34 starts, Bennett joined his receiving corps as a true freshman.

He quickly became Cutler's favorite target, hauling in 79 passes for 876 yards and nine touchdowns. He caught the touchdown pass that put the Florida game into overtime in the Swamp, though Vanderbilt was going for two and the win until Bennett was flagged for throwing up the celebratory six-shooters in one of the worst calls in college football history. In the Kentucky game, Bennett caught five TD passes from Cutler, and against Tennessee he broke a long losing drought with 168 reception yards and the winning touchdown.

How good was Bennett? After Cutler left, he became the SEC's all-time leading reception leader in only two more seasons despite being constantly double-teamed and having Chris Nickson as his primary quarterback.

When he declared himself eligible for the NFL draft, Bennett called Cutler and asked him to be his quarterback at pro day in Nashville. Cutler agreed, even working out with him for three weeks leading up to the event. On pro day, Bennett caught every pass and impressed scouts.

"Anytime you play with a pro quarterback like Cutler it is great," Bennett said after that workout. "He throws great balls and once you get your timing down, everything is cool. I'm thankful that he came out here."

That day, Cutler said he was the one who felt the pressure.

"I was a little nervous today," Cutler said. "I think he was more relaxed than I was because I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to give him good balls. He made some catches for me and it turned out really well."

"He is such a great kid," Cutler said of Bennett then. "He is a pro. In Denver we talk about being a pro and doing things the right way, and Earl does it on and off the field."

The Bears drafted Bennett in the third round. He struggled in his rookie season, making the active roster late in the year and failing to catch a pass.

Bet he catches quite a few this season.

Jovan Haye gets the bling — and a return trip to Nashville, where he played for Vanderbilt

Now Jovan Haye can buy a diamond necklace that spells his whole name and not just his initials. The former Vanderbilt Commodore signed a four-year, $16 million contract with the Titans and is headed back to Nashville.

You may remember that Haye, who played on Bobby Johnson's awful 2-9 team of 2004 — as well as his awful 2-10 teams of 2002 and 2003 — thought he'd be a first or second rounder and came out early for the draft. But he went in the sixth round to the Carolina Panthers, playing only two games and then getting cut the following season. Meanwhile, Johnson's persistence started paying off and the Commodores won five games behind Jay Cutler and the high-flying offense and beat Tennessee for the first time in a million years. What would Vanderbilt have done that season with a dominating D-lineman like Haye? Maybe, I don't know, beaten MTSU? How high would Haye have gone in the draft if he'd stuck around, raised his stock and helped the Commodores go to a bowl?

Instead, he did it the hard way, playing only two games in his first two seasons. But he persevered, became a bona-fide NFL player for the Panthers and then the Buccaneers, and now he's making the big bucks with the Titans. Way to go, Jovan.

Here's a quick rundown of other Commodores in the NFL:

• Corey Chavous, safety, 11 seasons, Rams
• Jamie Winborn, linebacker, 9 seasons, Broncos
• Todd Yoder, tight end, 9 seasons, Redskins
• Hunter Hillenmeyer, linebacker, 6 seasons, Bears
• Justin Geisinger, offensive tackle, 4 seasons, Redskins
• Jay Cutler, quarterback, 3 seasons, Broncos
• Chris Williams, offensive tackle, 1 season, Bears
• Earl Bennett, wide receiver, 1 season, Bears
• Jonathan Goff, linebacker, 1 season, Giants
• Marcus Buggs, linebacker, 1 season, Bills
• Curtis Gatewood, linebacker, 1 season, Chiefs

A whopping five players off the 2007 team that went 5-7 — and beat South Carolina and scared the you-know-what out of Georgia and Tennessee and Kentucky — played in the NFL last season.

This year, expect to see D.J. Moore and Reshard Langford playing on Sundays — Moore as a first day pick and Langford perhaps as a free agent, the path Buggs and Gatewood took. I really think Langford's going to crack some team's roster.

Other players who might get a shot in NFL camps include wide receivers Sean Walker and George Smith and maybe even kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt. And what about Chris Nickson as an athlete? I always wanted to see him try another position besides quarterback. But all those guys are long-shots.