Vandy faces 10 bowl teams in 2010

Not to be negative or anything, but I've been watching a lot of bowl games and noticing teams that the Commodores are slated to play this year. In all, Vandy will play a whopping 10 bowl teams, and another team, Wake Forest, barely missed a bowl and has owned the Dores since Jay Cutler graduated. Can we hire the guy who makes Kentucky's schedule (no non-conference opponents who'd been to a bowl)?

And if you're wondering, eight of our opponents in 2009 were coming off bowls.

We'll be favored to win one (1) game next season, and that's against winless Eastern Michigan. We were supposed to travel up to Ypsilanti, but recently moved the game to Nashville. Hey, we'll take anything we can get. Hey, we've also got a bye week after playing Northwestern, LSU and Ole Miss and before traveling to Connecticut. Not bad. On the other hand, we can't use the 12-straight-games excuse in the upcoming season.

Anyway, here's a look at the schedule, and how each future opponent fared this season:

SEP 04: Northwestern (8-5): Outback Bowl, lost 38-35 to Auburn in overtime.

SEP 11: LSU (9-4, 5-3 SEC): Capital One Bowl, lost 19-17 to Penn State.

SEP 18: At Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4): Cotton Bowl, beat Oklahoma State 21-7.

SEP 25: A bye week! A bye week! Holy crap a bye week!

OCT 02: At Connecticut (8-5): PapaJohns.com Bowl, beat South Carolina 20-7.

OCT 09: Eastern Michigan (0-12): No Bowl.

OCT 16: At Georgia (8-5, 4-4): Independence Bowl, beat Texas A&M 44-20.

OCT 23: South Carolina (7-6, 3-5): PapaJohns.com Bowl, lost to UConn 20-7.

OCT 30: At Arkansas (8-5, 3-5): Liberty Bowl, beat East Carolina 20-17 in overtime.

NOV 06: Florida (13-1, 8-1): Sugar Bowl, beat Cincinnati 51-24.

NOV 13: At Kentucky (7-6, 3-5): Music City Bowl, lost to Clemson 21-13.

NOV 20: Tennessee (7-6, 4-4): Chick-Fil-A Bowl, lost to Virginia Tech 37-14.

NOV 27: Wake Forest (5-7): No Bowl.

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.

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.

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.

Jay Cutler traded to Bears — Chicago now Vanderbilt North

About an hour ago, Jay Cutler was traded to the Chicago Bears, one of the two teams he wanted to play for — the Titans were the other.

Brian Urlacher says he has no problem with Cutler. Hey, that's a start.

Jay will be reunited with Earl Bennett, his favorite target when he was a Commodore. Bennett was a freshman back then and eventually became the SEC's all-time leading receiver in only three seasons despite the fact that two of those seasons he was catching balls from Chris Nickson and Mackenzi Adams, neither one of whom will ever play in the NFL.

Other Chicago Bears who played at Vanderbilt are linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, a seven-year pro, and Chris Williams, the first-rounder who was a rookie last season. Williams is listed as a left tackle but the Bears just picked up Orlando Pace, the legendary left tackle who was released by the Rams.

That makes four Commodores on the Vanderbilt roster. Maybe five if the Bears pick up D.J. Moore. That'd be cool, huh?

Anyway, Cutler is a blue-collar guy with an attitude, and like so many people have said, he's a team guy through and through. I think he'll get along fine with Lovie Smith, and Bears fans will consider him a vast upgrade over Kyle Orton, who's headed for the Broncos, and Rex Grossman.

It'll be interesting to see what Cutler's presence will do for Earl Bennett, who struggled in his rookie season and still hasn't caught a regular-season pass as a pro.

Cutler moves closer to home — he's from Santa Claus, Ind. — and he finally has a defense. And we don't have to hear everybody try to psychoanalyze him anymore. And we can see if Josh McDaniels in Denver really can work magic with quarterbacks.

Yep, we'll see.

Bobby Johnson: "Jay Cutler is not a whiner"

When asked yesterday about the Jay Cutler situation, Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson told Nashville radio station 104.5 The Zone:

"I’ll tell you one thing: Jay Cutler is not a whiner.

"He was here for four years with us and he did everything we asked him to do every time we asked him, and he went beyond that. He was loyal to a fault. He could have left here and gone in the draft before his senior year but he stayed here and he stayed over the summer. He’d keep guys in his apartment so they could stay here in the summers to work.

"He is not a whiner and he is a team guy."

You can download the 10-minute conversation, which was mostly about spring football. I'll post some more of what he said later.

Reshard Langford's draft status on the rise — while D.J. Moore drops

Who cares if former Vanderbilt safety Reshard Langford didn't get invited to the combine? The man's gonna be playing in the NFL.

On Vanderbilt's pro day on Friday, Langford and D.J. Moore each ran the 40 in 4.55 seconds. Great for Langford, lousy for D.J.

Reshard is a big, strong, imposing-looking safety who I think could wind up at linebacker. D.J.'s a cornerback, and for the past two years everybody's been saying that, sure, he's small but he's really, really fast.

Anyway, Reshard, who was a borderline pick, may have climbed into the fourth round while D.J., who was a possible Top 15 pick, may have fallen into the second round. The man can still play football, of course, but it's funny how fast a player's strengths can become his weaknesses. You know, taking two punts last year all the way down the field to the one-yard line seemed mighty impressive. You've got to be fast. But why didn't he take it all the way to the house? Hmmm. Must not be fast.

So which is it?

It'll be nice when these guys get to an NFL camp and you can throw all these stats out the window.

Oh, both Sean Walker and one of D.J.'s many backups, Jared Fagan, posted 4.4 times. But you won't see them in the NFL. And Chris Nickson looked mighty athletic, even with an injury, which makes you wonder where he'd be if he'd gone to one of those bigger schools that wanted him to play defensive back. Of course, Jay Cutler was in the same boat coming out of high school. Illinois and Purdue wanted him as a safety and Vanderbilt was the only school willing to promise him a chance behind center. And we know how that turned out. Well, at least his college career.

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.