'Same Old Vandy' doesn't apply to recruiting; Commodores in good shape two weeks from signing day

Right now, 4-star defensive end Josh Dawson, who's been committed to Vanderbilt since June, is visiting his home state Georgia Bulldogs and loving it, according to Twitter.

Meanwhile, new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer is making a run at Brian Kimbrow, who by all accounts would fit perfectly into his spread offense.

Which has some Vanderbilt fans exclaiming "Same Old Vandy."

Don't do it. Here's when it's OK to say "Same Old Vandy": When some bizarre cosmic phenomenon occurs to the Commodores that (1) snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and (2) wouldn't happen to any other school.

For example, when your most reliable player is on the one yard line and about to give you a 15-point lead over the nation's No. 3 team late in the game but fumbles into the hands of an opposing linebacker, who runs 99 yards and, with the help of a 2-point conversion, suddenly ties the game.

Or, on the road, you take your most hated rival into overtime, get the ball first, and then lose the game on a pick-six.

Hard not to think Same Old Vanderbilt, huh?

But we often have such moments because we have weaker talent. Arkansas linebacker Jerry Franklin pulled a similar stunt against LSU, grabbing a fumble and racing for a touchdown to dramatically swing the momentum in the Razorback's favor. However, it happened in the first quarter, and minutes later LSU scored a quick three touchdowns and blew Arkansas away.

A couple of weeks from his second signing day as a Commodore, James Franklin is undoubtedly improving our talent base, which should lead to a Brand New Vandy on the playing field. And it's just plain wrong to be uttering "Same Old Vandy" right now in regards to recruiting.

In recruiting, "Same Old Vandy" means right after signing day your 4-star defensive end commitment just went to jail because his white girlfriend's dad just got him arrested (Marcus Dixon in 2003) or your 4-star running back was shot and killed by his mother's ex-boyfriend (Rajaan Bennett in 2010).

And fortunately, that sort of thing doesn't happen often but hurts awfully bad — especially in the case of Bennett — when it does.

Anyway, let's look at what's happened in the past few weeks:

• Gunner Kiel chooses LSU over Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. Did we really expect the nation's No. 1 quarterback (according to Scout) to choose us?

Look at history: Three of the last 10 Scout No. 1 quarterbacks have chosen USC, with a fourth (Mitch Mustain) transferring to USC after initially choosing Arkansas. Five of the remaining six chose football factories — Texas, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Florida — with the sixth choosing pass-happy BYU.

Look at the stats: LSU's offensive line averages about 315 pounds, it recruits some of the nation's best skill athletes and it has one of college football's best defensive units and special teams so you can start with good field position. Oh yeah, and it plays in front of more than 92,000 crazed fans.

If I want to be an English professor, I take the scholarship to Vanderbilt. If I want to be an NFL quarterback, I go to another school. Sure, we had Jay Cutler, but he came here because the few schools interested wanted him to play safety. He had four years to develop toughness, a quick release and lots of character. If he'd gone to Oklahoma, USC or LSU, he wouldn't be in the NFL today.

The fact that Kiel chose LSU over Vanderbilt is something we should be excited about, not whining over.

• Patton Robinette commits to Vandy. The nation's No. 36 quarterback, Robinette is 6-5, 200 pounds and looks great on film, with a live arm and quick feet.

While some Vandy fans were mourning the loss of Kiel, Robinette was in Chapel Hill about to enroll at UNC and realized he wanted to be a Commodore and drove to Nashville and enrolled in school the next day.

Sure, No. 36 may seem like a far cry from No. 1, but Robinette is the highest rated quarterback who's ever signed with Vandy, according to Scout. Austyn Carta-Samuels, the junior transfer expected to compete with Jordan Rodgers for playing time, was ranked No. 37 when he signed with Wyoming in 2009.

Our highest ranked quarterbacks after that were Josh Grady in 2011 (No. 50), Mackenzi Admas in 2005 (No. 55), Jared Funk in 2006 (No. 56) and Larry Smith in 2007 (No. 60). Charlie Goro, who somehow made Parade All-American, was ranked No. 139 and is now playing defensive back for South Dakota.

• Assistant coaches Chris Beatty and Wesley McGriff jump ship. So two of our position coaches are leaving to go to arguably bigger programs (Illinois and Ole Miss, respectively) to become coordinators. Isn't that a good thing? Does anybody doubt that James Franklin can replace those guys?

• Andre McDonald threatens to follow Beatty to Illinois. Oh yeah, Beatty and McGriff were our recruiting coordinators. That hurts. But Franklin's known for his recruiting ability and set up his staff so that everybody's involved in recruiting. It was nerve-wracking when McDonald, a big receiver and 4-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals, decommitted and arranged visits to Illinois and Minnesota. He now appears to be back in the fold.

• I'tavius Mathers sticks with Ole Miss. Mathers, a skilled athlete from Murfreesboro, initially committed to Ole Miss, then showed great interest in Vandy. But on the eve of a recently scheduled visit with Franklin, Mathers committed to Ole Miss.

The next day, Mathers' father told the Tennessean that Vanderbilt was not honest with Mathers because they were recruiting other people and didn't promise him playing time. Franklin made his media rounds and blasted the Tennessean for not calling him to verify the story. If anything, he said, he's been too honest by not promising anybody playing time. In the end, Franklin came out looking pretty good.

• Wes Brown and Albert Reid commit to Maryland. Vandy was high on the lists of 4-star running backs Brown and Reid, but by the end of this week both of them, who are from the DC area, committed to the Terrapins. Again, the fact that two highly ranked players barely choose their hometown team over the Commodores shows that we're making strides.

• Brandon Barden comments on Twitter that Vandy is pulling scholarships from players. Franklin said earlier this week that any player who works hard and does what he's asked will keep his scholarship regardless of talent.

He also said that no current redshirt junior is guaranteed a fifth year on scholarship and that some of those players may not be invited to return to the team. Toward the end of last season, Zac Stacy was urging Micah Powell to reconsider his decision to pass up his fifth year of eligibility. I understand that guys don't want to lose their teammates, but we don't need to burn another scholarship year on Powell, a special teams contributor.

We also know that redshirt juniors Caleb Welchans and DeAndre Jones won't be returning either. Welchans' prospects of playing diminished as we added new O-line talent, and Jones, who could possibly have started next season at middle linebacker, is going to go ahead and start his career as an engineer.

Franklin won't give the entire list of redshirt juniors who won't be returning, but the list has to include DE Dexter Daniels and DT Taylor Loftley, who weren't on the depth chart. While we lack linebackers, Al Owens was a stop-gap for us this past season and may well be moving on. Wouldn't be surprised if WRs John Cole and Akeem Dunham are gone too. Two more guys, Austin Monahan and Tristan Strong, have started for us when they've not been injured and whether they return another year (it would be a sixth year for Monahan) may be up in the air. The team has tons of young talent at tight end, but could really use Strong at outside or even middle linebacker.

Then there are the underclassmen who aren't returning. Franklin has said that freshman Mitchell Hester and sophomore Logan Stewart are gone for undisclosed reasons. Hester was a burner who had great potential and Stewart was a two-year starter at center. Also, sophomore Andre Simmons is gone after facing criminal charges. It would be speculation to figure out who falls victim next to academics or team rules.

Franklin said some guys may transfer to get playing time. I don't have any insight, but natural candidates would be sophomore receiver Brady Brown and redshirt freshmen Grant Ramsay (OL), Trent Pruitt (WR) and Thomas Ryan (DE). But you never know, and injuries played a factor with some of these guys. Last season, Javon Marshall wasn't on the depth chart and this year he was a starter.

• Defensive end Dawson visits Georgia. This happens all the time. Lots of powerhouse football programs lose recruits at the last minute. The trick is to have other guys who can take their place. If Dawson doesn't sign with us, we've already got 4-star defensive ends Caleb Azubike and Stephen Weatherly, as well as darkhouse Tory Agee, a big agile kid who's son of former Auburn and Dallas Cowboy fullback Tommy Agee. Meanwhile, Georgia just got a commitment from John Jenkins, a 5-star defensive end, in addition to two other fine defensive end prospects. We'll see.

• Kimbrow gets an offer from Urban Meyer. I don't understand why this scares Vandy fans so much. Sure, if a kid picks Vandy over Alabama-Birmingham or Marshall and then suddenly gets an offer from Ohio State, I'm concerned. We saw this happen two years ago with Bradley Roby, who verbally committed to Vandy and then jumped ship as soon as the Buckeyes offered. (The fact that Vandy just finished a two-win season didn't help any.) But Brian Kimbrow has already chosen Vandy over legitimate offers from USC, LSU, Auburn, Notre Dame, Miami, and the list goes on.

And if Kimbrow does jump ship, then it'll sting a whole lot worse than it did with Gunner Kiel, but we'll recover. Vandy fans desperately want to pin their hopes on one player. (Last year, we wanted to pin our hopes on a coach named Gus.) But the future of our program doesn't depend on a 5-9, 165-pound athlete. Don't get me wrong, he'll help a great deal, but it won't be a death blow to our program.

• Right now, we're in strong running for OT Kevin McCoy, who has offers from Auburn and Florida, and LB Harding Harper, who apparently has an offer from Arkansas. We've already got verbals from five offensive lineman, but McCoy appears to be special and he'd be a nice get. As far as Harper goes, we badly need linebackers but we may have our eye on some sleeper candidates out there.

And for all this talk about losing kids to other schools, and for all this talk about the lack of superstars remaining on our recruiting boards, don't forget that this time last year Lafonte Thourogood had committed to Virginia Tech, Dillon van der Wal had committed to Arizona State, and Barron Dixon was heading to Mississippi State. Reports are coming out of Atlanta that Georgia Tech's top commitment, athlete Marcus Allen, who'd be great at linebacker, is considering a recruiting visit to Vandy.

Sure, some bad things can happen in the next two weeks, but this is the Brand New Vandy, where good things can happen too, especially on the recruiting trail.

James Franklin stockpiles talent, but talent isn't everything - just ask Kevin Stallings

Remember all the pleasant surprises we got the week leading up to James Franklin's first signing day? Remember all the kids who'd made commitments to places like Virginia Tech who suddenly decided to commit to Vanderbilt?

Just wait to see what happens these next two months leading up to signing day. James Franklin is on a roll. The guy gets blown out by Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and on the way home he's calling recruits to ask them if they have what it takes to beat the Tide. Then he starts going toe-to-toe with Georgia and Arkansas and beating teams he should beat (Army) and walloping teams he's supposedly dead-even with (Kentucky and Wake Forest). He even turns a potentially demoralizing loss in Knoxville into a motivational tool.

Yes, he's leaving wounds open. No, this isn't the same old Vandy. Yes, he's staying in Nashville because he's creating a winning culture here and he loves his players.

Bobby Johnson steadily improved the quality and depth of talent at Vandy, and then Franklin arrived and said it wasn't good enough and now he's competing for players we never dreamed of getting, including the No. 1 quarterback in America.

And the exciting thing is, we believe he'll know what to do with all this talent when he gets it. Yes, it takes more than talent to win. Just ask the Vanderbilt basketball team, which is loaded with four- and five-star talent and doesn't know how to finish games, rise to the occasion, make clutch plays, or beat teams they're supposed to beat.

But that's another subject. There are no moral victories in Vanderbilt basketball, just like there will soon be no moral victories in Vanderbilt football.

(Sure, James Franklin says there are no moral victories, but the day he stops talking about how his margin of loss against top teams is getting smaller is the day when there are no more moral victories in Vanderbilt football, which will also be the day we'll need to reconsider the name of our blog.)

Anyway, we've got a big-league recruiter who plays to win. Is this a great time to be a Vandy football fan or what?

Franklin raises the bar for talent; so start defending your favorite Vanderbilt football player now

Remember when James Franklin said on signing day that he didn’t want anybody who wasn’t ready to compete, and that he was telling new recruits he was going to go out and get somebody better than them?

You know I think Bobby Johnson made huge progress improving the Commodores’ overall level of talent and depth. I noticed this during our victory at South Carolina four or five years ago when even the guys on our bench looked like SEC players, which was not the case when I attended Vandy in the late ’80s.

But it was all relative – while our players were good by Vandy standards and capable of the occasional upset or even seven upsets in one season, they weren’t good enough to win consistently. Instead, Johnson blamed losses on a lack of execution, valued experience and work ethic over talent, and immediately redshirted nearly every freshmen who set foot on campus.

Now here comes James Franklin, who’s focused like a laser on our talent. He’s run off Charlie Goro, whom he said didn’t meet his standards for a quarterback, and criticized Brady Brown for waiting to get tackled when he catches the ball.

His philosophy, as he stressed to the other day to Tennessean's Jeff Lockridge (who by the way is doing a bang-up job, probably in part because Franklin is a straight-shooter), is to go out and get the best possible talent:

“One year I threw it to a really good player or handed off to a really good player and it went for 85 yards, and all of a sudden I’m smart. And the year before I threw it to a guy that was a good kid, but you know, it went for seven yards. Our staff understands, our players understand, our recruits understand that recruiting is paramount to our success."

You think some of the returning starters are nervous going into training camp?

Franklin has said that he’s looking for playmakers and difference-makers, and that he’d rather have a tremendous athlete who can compensate for a mistake than a mediocre athlete who executes everything perfectly. Um, think Turner Wimberly or Nate Campbell would have started for Franklin?

Here’s what’s going to happen in preseason camp:

• Josh Grady and Lafonte Thourogood are going to push Larry Smith and Jordan Rodgers hard, and then they might just move over to the receiving corps and, together with fellow freshman Jacquese Kirk, ensure that John Cole and Udom Umoh never see the field.

• Dillon van der Wal, Steven Scheu and Darien Bryant are going to make backup tight ends Mason Johnston, Austin Monahan and Fitz Lassing earn every second of playing time.

• Jarron Seymour’s going to motivate Wesley Tate to hit the holes as quick as he can, and he’s going to have Warren Norman and Zac Stacy getting as fit as they can, because if they get hurt this season they may not have a starting job when they come back.

• James Lewis and Jake Bernstein may not start right away, but they could see the field a whole lot sooner than projects like Andrew Bridges and Chase White.

• Barron Dixon already weighs nearly 40 pounds more than our heaviest defensive end and as much as our defensive tackles, and appears to be the most SEC-ready defensive linemen we’ve had in a long time. That’s got to motivate juniors like Rob Lohr and Colt Nichter and underclassmen like Vince Taylor and Jared Morse.

• And you’ll see guys like Kyle Woestmann, Walker May and Chase Garnham try to grab starting positions as fast as they can, because it won’t be any easier next year when a boatload of talented ends and backers — Sealand, Herring, Weatherly, Azubike, Dawson and friends — arrives in Nashville.

• Oh yeah, and true freshmen safeties Jahmel McIntosh, Larry Franklin and Andrew Williamson could boot guys like Karl Butler and Andre Simmons off the depth chart or move to outside backer and do the same to a host of veterans over there.

• And don’t forget Derek King, who’s got the talent to immediately knock Wilson, Foster or Hal out of the starting rotation.

Sure, it kind of hurts saying that guys who’ve worked hard and paid their dues may never see meaningful playing time. Go ahead and comment about guys you think I’ve slighted. Folks have been defending Goro on this site for years. Somebody recently commented that Chase Garnham will be a third- or fourth-round draft pick. Maybe so. But that doesn’t mean we’re gonna write his name – or anybody’s name – in ink on our depth chart.

This doesn’t mean Franklin’s out looking for thugs or morons. But it also doesn’t mean he has to settle for MAC- or WAC- or CUSA-level talent.

Go to his Twitter account sometime and read his posts. They make Norman Vincent Peale look like a pessimist.

The guy’s walking into the living rooms of the nation’s top prospects and he’s telling them he’s not taking no for an answer. If a recruit tells Franklin that other SEC coaches are saying Vanderbilt’s academics are too hard, then Franklin tells the recruit that those SEC coaches are really telling the recruit that he’s not smart and not a hard worker.

And is that true? Of course not. Does the kid — who, for example, may be the No. 2 all-purpose back in the nation and run a 4.2 40 — have what it takes to get a Vandy degree AND play in the SEC? Of course he does. At least, of course we're going to see if he does.

Franklin’s got a different blueprint for success than his predecessors. Instead of thinking he can lead the SEC’s worst recruits to a bowl victory every decade, he absolutely believes he can get the best talent in the nation and challenge for championships.

Heck, let’s try it and see what happens.

Vandy recruiting class is so far so good

Right now, Vandy has eight verbal commitments – o-lineman Gouger, d-back Head, linebackers Sealand and Herring, and defensive ends Griffin, Banks, Weatherly and Dawson.

This time last season, we had only one – tackle James Lewis, who’s about to start his Vandy career.

As you know last season’s class was a revolving door, with 13 recruits committed when James Franklin was hired, but that number quickly shrank to only six, with the following guys either jumping ship or being thrown overboard:

• WR Courtney Bynes to Western Michigan
• RB Marquis Sumler to Western Kentucky
• RB JJ Keels to South Alabama
• QB Shaun White to MTSU
• QB Damien Fleming to Florida A&M
• DE Keith Heitzman to Michigan
• OL Alex Barr to NC State

Looks like only the last two guys jumped ship as opposed to being thrown overboard. In retrospect, it’s unbelievable what Franklin did in such a short time:

• He held on to 80 percent of a solid offensive line class, keeping top recruits James Lewis and Jake Bernstein, as well as Spencer Pulley and Jose Valedon.
• He kept cornerback Derek King, who’d turned down offers to Auburn and UT.
• He replaced Bynes with athletes Jacquese Kirk, Jahmel McIntosh and Darrien Bryant.
• He replaced running backs Sumler and Keels with the more highly regarded Mitchell Hester and Jerron Seymour.
• He replaced quarterbacks White and Fleming with four-star Lafonte Thorougood, three-star Josh Grady, and raw talent Kris Kentera.
• He stole Thourogood from Virginia Tech, McIntosh from Memphis, four-star athlete Dillon van der Wal from Arizona State, and hulking defensive end Barron Dixon from Mississippi State.
• He also added a big Barden clone at tight end in Steven Scheu; an athletic safety, Larry Franklin; another big strong safety who could play LB, Andrew Williamson; a quick defensive end, Jimmy Stewart; and raw but versatile lineman Joe Townsend.

Not bad, huh?

We’re rumored to be getting a boatload more commitments any day now. It’ll be interesting to see what Franklin does with a full recruiting season.

And it’ll be interesting to see if some of our recruits jump ship when the season starts and the inevitable losses come while Franklin rebuilds. In 2009, after the bowl victory, we had 11 commitments by the end of June. Two of them, TE Davis Dudchock and QB Nash Nance, jumped ship.

Wonder how Nash likes carrying that orange clipboard? He’d better get used to it.

Prep linebackers choosing Vandy before they get left behind

We’ve established that Vanderbilt needs linebackers, especially outside guys, in the worst way, and the Commodores have certainly extended scholarship offers to a bunch of them.

But until this week, we had only one verbal commitment, from DE Tre Griffin of Kennessaw, Ga.

That didn’t mean kids weren’t interested. Lots of good student athletes, particularly in the Atlanta area, are interested in Vanderbilt. But like any kid, they’re also interested in getting lots of offers from big football schools so even if they choose Vandy they can say they chose the Dores over Georgia or Auburn or whatever.

So the conventional wisdom is that you sit back with your Vandy offer, see what else you can get, and then make a decision. Because the Vandy offer will always be there, right?

Wrong.

On Sunday, Jacob Sealand, a great-looking outside backer from Tucker, Ga., with offers from Miss State, UNC, South Carolina and Virginia Tech, chose the Commodores and then the next day rejected an offer from Miami. (OT Barrett Gouger from Chattanooga also committed.)

That opened the floodgates.

Yesterday, Darreon Herring, an outside backer from Stone Mountain with offers from Nebraska and Clemson, committed to Vandy, and so did Stephen Weatherly, another outside guy from Atlanta with offers from Ole Miss and Illinois.

And DE Ladarius Banks from Dallas, Ga., also chose the Dores.

Oh, and did we mention that Sealand, Herring and Weatherly are all on ESPN's 150 Watch list?

If you're a linebacker or defensive end prospect, your Vandy offer suddenly isn't such a sure thing. Because at some point we're gonna check linebacker off our list and begin stockpiling at other positions.

These guys told the AJC that Coach Franklin has them pumped up to turn the Vandy program around.

Word’s getting out. If you’re a great student-athlete and you want to be part of the biggest turnaround in college football history, you’d better get on board fast.

Derek King commits to Vanderbilt: Commodores keep losing games and gaining athletes

I was just about to post my weekly don't-kill-yourself-if-we-get-blown-out-on-Saturday piece. Though we're not facing a team with the talent of Florida or Georgia, we could get ours handed to us this week by Kentucky. After all, we'll be without our top two playmakers, running backs Warren Norman and Zac Stacy, and maybe even their backup, Wesley Tate.

Of course, our strength was our running game, and now that's gone too. If we had Kentucky's team and they had ours, we'd be jumping up and down right now.

So don't kill yourself if we get blown out on Saturday.

But you can jump up and down because Vandy just got a verbal commitment from Derek King of Brentwood, Tenn.

King, a 5-10, 185-pound athlete with a 36-inch vertical leap and a 4.4 40 time, has offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee. How often does Vandy get a player with four other SEC offers? Not often, my friends.

This was a huge get. King is a playmaker who could line up at running back or maybe even receiver but is probably best suited as a cornerback who can be a difference maker returning punts and covering on special teams. Oh, and Ted Cain got him.

King's our best recruit in this class, and frankly, it's a miracle that he's committing to us on the heels of another blowout and as fans are howling for Robbie Caldwell's firing. The big job will be to keep him in the fold until February's signing day.

Don't underestimate the job that Caldwell and his staff have done on the recruiting trail in the middle of a miserable season in which their jobs are in jeopardy.

The day Bobby Johnson quit, Vanderbilt had TWO commitments, compared to 14 on the same day a year earlier. They were Damien Fleming, a two-star dual-threat quarterback, and James Lewis, a three-star left tackle.

That's it.

Enter Robbie Caldwell and more uncertainty than you can shake a stick at. Here's what's happened since then:

1. Right after he knocked ’em dead at SEC media days, Caldwell wrapped up defensive end Conor Hart, who runs a 4.5 40 and whose grandfather won a Heisman at Notre Dame.
2. At the end of August, with Vandy predicted to win one or two games this season, Caldwell got commitments from consensus three-star players Jake Bernstein, a hulking offensive lineman, and Keith Heitzman, who can play defensive end or tight end.
3. The week after narrowly dropping the season opener against Northwestern, Caldwell landed Spencer Pulley, an offensive lineman who got three stars from Rivals.
4. The week after falling apart in the fourth quarter to LSU, he picked up a pair of promising running backs, Mitchell Hester and J.J. Keels, each of whom got three stars from ESPN.
5. The week after shellacking Eastern Michigan, Caldwell landed huge offensive lineman Alex Barr, who's got three stars from Rivals and ESPN.
6. The day Vandy played hard but lost to South Carolina, he got a commitment from Jose Valedon, another offensive lineman with three stars from Rivals.
7. Following miserable blowouts at the hands of Arkansas and Florida, Caldwell somehow manages to land Derek King.

Meanwhile, Lewis, the tackle who committed to Johnson in the spring, has gained more than 20 pounds and is pushing 300 pounds. Word is, his family's making him stick to his word. Good for them, and good for us.

Fleming appears to be having a good season in his first full year as a starting quarterback. He's an athletic, dual threat project, who's supposedly an extremely accurate passer who doesn't mind pressure in the pocket.

Last year's class, built on the strength of the Music City Bowl and then stripped down a bit after we crashed back to earth, had nine consensus three-star players. This year's has four so far, more than any in recent history.

Here are the consensus three star players (Rivals, Scout, ESPN) in the past six classes:

2011: OL Jake Bernstein, TE Keith Heitzman, CB Derek King, OT James Lewis
2010: S Karl Butler, HB Blake Gowder, CB Andre Hal, OL James Kittredge, WR Jonathan Krause, DT Jared Morse, OL Grant Ramsay, DT Vince Taylor, DE Kyle Woestmann
2009: WR Brady Brown, OT Wesley Johnson, TE Mason Johnston
2008: LB De'Andre Jones
2007: OG Kyle Fischer, FB Ryan van Rensburg, QB Larry Smith
2006: QB Jared Funk

Why do you want a bunch of these guys? Because not all of them pan out. The so-called gem of the 2006 class, Jared Funk, has zero starts in five seasons. Ryan van Rensburg (2007) is in the wrong offensive system, De'Andre Jones (2008) looks great in the airport but hasn't come close to starting a game yet, and Brady Brown (2009) plays receiver, one of our worst positions, but hasn't seen a down this season.

But the class of 2010 has already burned the redshirts off five of the nine consensus three-stars, as well as another eight guys — CB Steven Clarke, LB Chase Garnham, S Kenny Ladler, TE Fitz Lassing, WR Jordan Matthews, S Andre Simmons, PK Carey Spear and C Logan Stewart — who weren't as highly touted.

The guys who aren't playing right now — WR/TE Blake Gowder, OL Grant Ramsay, DT Vince Taylor, DE Kyle Woestmann — could easily crack the depth chart next season. Expect Taylor and Woestmann to make the biggest splash, on the defensive line.

Anyway, just wanted to give you some good news. And if we can steal a couple of victories in the next three weeks, we may get even more pleasant surprises on the recruiting trail.

Vandy quietly building a talented, deep offensive line

Every now and then, a Vandy fan complains about how the coaches have let the offensive line fall into such disrepair. I disagree.

Fate has dealt the Commodores a cruel blow in the past year, with starter Reilly Lauer leaving school, starter James Williams an academic casualty, potential starters Chris Aaron and Justin Cabbagestalk suffering season-ending injuries and substitutes Richard Cagle and Rob Ashabranner leaving school. That’s six guys suddenly gone from your two-deep.

That’s why we’ve already burned the redshirts off two true freshmen offensive linemen this year.

But the coaches are not standing idly by. The recent verbal commitment from Jose Valedon — an underrated prospect with quick feet, long arms and the ability to play either tackle position — gives us a complete offensive line from our 2011 signing class:

• James Lewis, 6-5, 295, Arlington, Tenn., 3 stars from ESPN, Rivals, Scout
• Jake Bernstein, 6-4, 276, Crystal Lake, Ill., 3 stars from ESPN, Rivals, Scout
• Alex Barr, 6-7, 285, Fayetteville, Ga., 3 stars from ESPN, 2 from Scout
• Jose Valedon, 6-4, 270, Oak Ridge, Tenn., 2 stars from ESPN, Scout
• Spencer Pulley, 6-5, 277, Cordova, Tenn., 2 stars from ESPN, Scout

And this nicely complements the complete offensive line from our 2010 signing class:

• Grant Ramsay, 6-5, 280, Marietta, Ga., 3 stars from ESPN, Rivals, Scout
• James Kittredge, 6-4, 260, Ramsey, N.J., 3 stars from ESPN, Rivals, Scout
• Logan Stewart, 6-4, 270, Boiling Springs, S.C., 3 stars from ESPN and Rivals, 2 from Scout
• Andrew Bridges, 6-6, 245, Atlanta, Ga., 3 stars from ESPN and Rivals, 2 from Scout
• Chase White, 6-6, 260, Plano, Texas, 2 stars from ESPN, Rivals, Scout

What does this mean? It means that we’ll have a deep line in 2011:
• Redshirt senior: Kyle Fischer
• Redshirt juniors: Ryan Seymour, Jabo Burrow, Caleb Welchans
• Redshirt sophomores: Wesley Johnson, Mylon Brown, Justin Cabbagestalk
• Sophomores: Logan Stewart, James Kittredge
• Redshirt freshmen: Grant Ramsay, Chase White, Andrew Bridges
• Freshmen: James Lewis, Jake Bernstein, Alex Barr, Jose Valedon, Spencer Pulley

And an even deeper line in 2012:
• Redshirt seniors: Ryan Seymour, Jabo Burrow, Caleb Welchans
• Redshirt juniors: Wesley Johnson, Mylon Brown, Justin Cabbagestalk
• Juniors: Logan Stewart, James Kittredge
• Redshirt sophomores: Grant Ramsay, Chase White, Andrew Bridges
• Sophomore: James Lewis
• Redshirt freshmen: Jake Bernstein, Alex Barr, Jose Valedon, Spencer Pulley

Not bad, huh?

Just remember that more than any other position besides maybe quarterback, offensive linemen must make the biggest adjustments physically and mentally to the college game. That's why Myron Lewis, D.J. Moore, Warren Norman and Earl Bennett play as true freshmen, while Chris Williams, Thomas Welch, Brian Stamper and Justin Geisinger don't.

Our freshmen, even the ones who've been thrown into the fire, are still far from where they'll be in a couple of years. And with Herb Hand and Robbie Caldwell coaching them up, I'm confident the offensive line is going to improve dramatically during each of the next two seasons.

For Vanderbilt's recruiting class, the gain far outweighs the losses

So Vandy lost some verbal commitments at the end. If you're one of those doom and gloomers on the message boards, stop it now. You wanted to land a couple of big recruits right before signing day, and that's exciting for sure. Instead, we lost a few guys and now you're blaming our miserable season and muttering stuff like "Same old Vandy."

Remember Stanford? Had a great season and became the trendy school for good football players who are smart... and lost 17 verbal commitments this year.

If we'd have landed, say, Chris Boyd and Kyle Woestmann and Thomas Ryan on Tuesday night, we'd all be on cloud 9. Instead, those guys committed in the summer and we took them for granted.

Look at Alabama. Tide fans are distraught because Auburn has landed some top recruits in recent months. But they forget that Bama has had a Top 5 class compiled since last spring.

In all, Vandy signed 11 guys who were consensus three-star recruits. That's more than Bobby Johnson's signed in all his previous seasons combined.

And let's not forget Rajaan Bennett. In the last week before signing day, we lost (1) a weak-armed quarterback with a meddling father, (2) a 160-pound safety whose strength is blitzing and (3) a 5-9 speedster who wasn't going to qualify for Vanderbilt anyway. Oh, and we gained a four-star running back who's being compared to Knowshon Moreno and Ricky Williams.

How can you not see Rajaan as the icing on the cake of what's been a terrific signing class for Vanderbilt?

Looking ahead to signing day

OK, so it hurts to lose Bradley Roby, who chose being a cornerback at Ohio State over being a wide receiver at Vanderbilt.

Last year we were in the Top Five for players like Roby; this year we've actually gotten verbal commitments from them. Maybe next season we'll get the players to keep those commitments.

I'm not going to attempt to belittle Roby or suggest that he's a liar. Heck, when I was a high school senior I committed to study literature at Auburn and then I got accepted by Vanderbilt and changed my mind. Nobody called me a liar or questioned my character because nobody gives a crap about English majors.

By all accounts, Roby was impressed with Vanderbilt and actually waited as long as he did to publicly commit to Ohio State because he didn't want other Vandy commitments to follow him and jump ship.

So let's look ahead to signing day:

• We need a punter to replace Brett Upson: We've got one walk-on, Richard Kent, on our roster. We'd extended an offer to William Russ, a punter/kicker from Louisiana who this week committed to Arkansas.

• We still need to upgrade our receivers: I imagine we offered Jordan Matthews after Roby told our coaches he wasn't playing for Vandy. That seems to be the strategy: When a top kid like Roby or Davis Dudchock steps out, we immediately offer a scholarship to a kid who'll accept right away, a kid like Matthews or Blake Gowder, who accepted an offer immediately after Dudchock jumped ship to Stanford. Oh, Collin Ashley's no longer listed on our football roster, confirming rumors that he's left school, but Brady Brown is still on the roster and has apparently returned for spring semester. That's great news. Though Ashley had a better freshman season and actually caught a pass, Brown still has the biggest upside.

• We need an offensive lineman who can play right away: No offense to Reilly Lauer, a 6-foot-7, 275-pound lineman who's played wherever he's been asked to play during his career and will again compete to start his third straight year. But we need an upgrade. James Stone would likely play for us as a true freshman, something no offensive lineman has done in Bobby Johnson's tenure. Stone, as you know, lives near Nashville and has narrowed his list down to Auburn, Alabama and Vanderbilt. If Stone heads to the Yellowhammer state, then other possibilities include Zak Tait of Knoxville and Parker Mack from Little Rock.

Don't worry: Vandy's current recruiting class will survive disappointing season

A common fear shared among Vandy fans: All these star recruits who've verbally committed to the Commodores are going to jump ship come signing day.

I doubt it. This time last year, Vandy had 10 verbal commitments, including 3-star guys Zac Stacy, Warren Norman, Charlie Goro and Eric Samuels. They had all committed before the season started, when the Dores were picked to win maybe two games.

They kept their commitments.

Maybe we will lose a commitment or two. Jared Morse's commitment hasn't been terribly solid to begin with, and it was no surprise he's been downgraded to a "soft verbal." He's still hoping Bama will offer (good luck), he's got offers from Auburn, Arkansas and Kentucky in his back pocket, as well as Florida State, which could be his favorite.

Big deal. We've already got commitments from two three-star defensive tackles, Kyle Woestmann and Vince Taylor, as well as commitments from two three-star swing guys, Thomas Ryan and James Kittredge, who could easily grow into DTs.

One thing's for sure: We're not going to get eight commitments at the end of the season like we did last year. We don't have many offers left to give. And that's the beauty part: Sure, we're having a down year, but we were able to get a whopping 21 commitments (more than last year's entire class) before our season even started. So even if we lose Morse and don't get anybody else, we've still got our best recruiting class ever.

Everybody's worried about what our commitments and guys still considering offers are going to think about our disappointing performance so far. I'll tell you what they're probably thinking:

Hey, I've got a chance to play right away!

Our receivers look awful. You don't think Jonathan Krause, Chris Boyd and Bradley Roby aren't licking their chops? Our offensive line looks awful. You don't think Grant Ramsay and Logan Stewart aren't excited? Brandon Barden can't catch. You don't think Davis Dudchock is thinking he can do a better job? We don't have playmakers. You don't think Jerrell Priester isn't thinking he can make some plays for us? We need some more meat on the defensive line. You don't think Kyle Woestmann and Vince Taylor aren't going back for seconds right now?

So verbal commitment and safety Kenneth Ladler is visiting Kentucky and South Carolina and Vanderbilt after his high school season ends.

You know how many of our recruits made their visits after they committed to us? Of the 10 guys who committed before last season started, every single one of them took his official visit after the season was over.

But here's one concern in regards to Ladler. ESPN.com is reporting that he plans to enroll early. Um, Vandy doesn't allow early enrollment, something it needs to change and fast. But won't.

But Ladler also says he wants to make sure he plays next year. Kenneth, you're a safety! Joel Caldwell's graduating and you know Bobby Johnson plays his DBs right away. Samuels and Trey Wilson are playing a ton as true freshmen in the secondary, and Eddie Foster's starting at nickel back. But all those guys are true corners.

Vanderbilt recruiting update: 18 of Vanderbilt's 20 recruits have three (or more) stars

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about recruiting, and I just noticed that some more Vandy recruits have been awarded three stars, most notably running back Myron Ross, who’s gotten three apiece from Rivals and Scouts and is awaiting evaluation from ESPN.

In fact, 18 of Vanderbilt’s 20 recruits have received at least three stars from one of the above scouting entities.

Here’s a breakdown:

FOUR STARS
• TE Davis Dudchock (4 stars from ESPN, 3 stars from Rivals and Scout)

ALL THREE STARS
• DT Vince Taylor
• OL Grant Ramsay
• ATH Jerrell Priester
• DT Kyle Woestmann
• DT James Kittredge
• WR Jonathan Krause
• DB Andre Hal
• ATH Bradley Roby

THREE STARS FROM TWO SERVICES
• DT Jared Morse (unrated by Rivals)
• OL Logan Stewart (2 stars from Scout)
• DE Thomas Ryan (2 stars from ESPN)
• DB Sharrod Golightly (2 stars from ESPN)
• WR Chris Boyd (2 stars from ESPN)
• QB Nash Nance (2 stars from ESPN)
• RB Myron Ross (unrated by ESPN)

THREE STARS FROM ONE SERVICE
• DB Kenneth Ladler (3 stars from ESPN, 2 stars from Rivals and Scout)
• DB Karl Butler (3 stars from Scout, unrated by ESPN and Rivals)

ALL TWO STARS
• Chase White (2 stars from ESPN and Scout, unrated by Rivals)
• Trent Pruitt

Further evidence that Bobby Johnson is building a great recruiting class, at least by Vanderbilt standards

As we sink into the dog days of summer, I wanted to give you further evidence of Bobby Johnson’s success on the recruiting trail. Everybody praised him for the 2009 class, but the 2010 class is shaping up to be much more impressive. (That's Thomas Ryan pictured above.)

Consider:

• This time last year, Vanderbilt had no commitments from three-star players. (Eric Samuels would eventually pick up a third star from rivals.com.) This year, Vandy already has commitments from six three-star players (DE Thomas Ryan, OL Grant Ramsay, QB Nash Nance, DT Kyle Woestmann, WR Jonathan Krause and TE Davis Dudchock).

• So far, Scouts.com ranks this year’s class No. 39 in the nation, and eighth in the SEC ahead of Ole Miss, Miss State, Arkansas and Kentucky. Last year’s class, widely considered the best in school history, was ranked No. 72 and the worst in the SEC.

• So far, Vanderbilt has verbal commitments from six players with three-star ratings from scouts.com (Ryan, Ramsay, Nance, Woestmann, Krause and Dudchock), compared to five three-star players in last year’s entire class (TE Mason Johnston, DE Walker May, WR Brady Brown, OL Wesley Johnson and DE Thad McHaney).

• So far, eleven players have accepted scholarship offers from Vanderbilt. This time last year, only three players had accepted offers.

• In all, Vanderbilt signed 13 players in the last recruiting class who received three stars from either rivals.com or scout.com (Johnston, Brown, Johnson and McHaney from both; LB Blake Southerland, RB Zac Stacy, RB Warren Norman, QB Charlie Goro, DB Eddie Foster, DB Trey Wilson, RB Wesley Tate and WR Collin Ashley from Rivals; and May from Scout. As mentioned earlier, Vanderbilt had no three-star verbal commitments this time last year and already has six. If Vandy has a successful season to rival 2009 then the current recruiting class should eclipse the last one.

Vanderbilt football lands "best" recruit yet

Is Bobby Johnson on a roll or what? Remember how he predicted that the Music City Bowl victory would give a greater boost to the recruiting class of 2010 than the class of 2009? And remember how we told you earlier this week that he's already gotten verbal commitments from 10 players, by far his most ever in June?

Well, it's still June and he just got another verbal, this time from Davis Dudchock, a 6-4, 225-pound tight end from Birmingham whose father played at Auburn for Pat Dye.

Dudchock is on ESPN's 150 Watch List, which makes him the highest rated player to commit to Vandy so far this season. He got three stars from scout.com and appears to still be unrated by rivals.com. He had offers from Florida State, Tennessee and Auburn.

Expect the players to keep rolling in over the next month or so. It's a battle all the way, but Johnson appears to be turning the ship around at Vanderbilt — and without the Commodores leaving the SEC.

I'll never forget sitting behind the Vandy bench in Columbia, S.C., in 2007 and noticing how big and athletic-looking the players were, even the players who weren't playing. It was a far cry from the Watson Brown years. And sure, Woody had some stallions on his defenses, but not as many as I saw on that day — they were everywhere.

Of course, Vanderbilt upset South Carolina and Steve Spurrier that day. Last season and the last week's recruiting news are further evidence that the Gamecock victory was only the start.

I'm not predicting SEC championships or BCS bids or anything like that. But I am saying we've got the athletes and coaches and support system and overall program — and especially the athletes — to compete.

Ratings of Vanderbilt football recruits change before our eyes

When lineman Grant Ramsay verbally committed to the Commodores last month, he was unrated by ESPN. A couple of days later, he got a rating of 77, only a point lower than the rating of Eric Samuels, arguably our top recruit of 2009.

Then lineman Chase White committed. ESPN had him at a 63, but a few days later upgraded him to a 70.

Over the weekend, receiver Trent Pruitt chose Vandy. He was unrated, but now he's a respectable 72.

On Monday, speedster Jonathan Krause (above) announced he'd chosen the Commodores too. He was unrated, but today he's a 76.

I wonder two things:

• First, if Trent Pruitt had committed to Troy or MTSU, would he have received a 72 rating a couple of days later? I doubt it.

• Second, if Jonathan Krause had committed to Georgia Southern, where he had an offer, would he have received a 76 rating several days later? Or what if Krause, among the fastest players in the nation, had suddenly received an offer from USC? How high would his rating have climbed?

So perhaps a player's choice of school says as much about the player — and can even change the so-called experts' opinion of him for better or worse — as it does about what kind of recruiting class the school is having.

For example, Bobby Johnson now has a reputation for amassing talent, or spotting and developing raw talent. Especially in the summer, and especially after a breakthrough season, he's not going to sign somebody he doesn't think will improve his team. So when he signs Trent Pruitt, who'd been evaluated by none of the major recruiting services, everybody takes notice.

And several days later, ESPN praises him for his quickness and toughness, raises his rating from 40 (unevaluated) to 72, and he goes from being a Sun Belt prospect to sounding like a legitimate SEC skill player.

Vanderbilt recruiting reaping benefits of seven-win season

Right after signing day in February, everybody wanted to know how winning seven games, finishing in the top half of the SEC and being Music City Bowl champions had helped Vanderbilt's recruiting.

Bobby Johnson's answer? Ask me next year.

He meant that while Vandy's strong finish in 2008 helped him grab some late commitments and make the 2009 signing class his best yet, he believed that the team's 2008 success would have an even bigger impact on the 2010 signing class.

In other words, it takes two years for gridiron success to translate into recruiting success.

And so far, he's exactly right. It's still June and Vandy has verbal commitments from 10 players. This time last year? We had commitments from only three recruits.

Here's a quick analysis of each of the last seven signing classes, including the current one:

2004 CLASS
Vandy records: 2-10 (0-8 SEC) in 2002, 2-10 (1-7) in 2003
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 0
• July-August: 3
• September-October: 3
• November-December: 4
• January-February: 7
Summary: Two terrible seasons meant only three commitments before the season started and the majority of recruits committing after the season was over.

2005 CLASS
Vandy records: 2-10 (1-7) in 2003 and 2-9 (1-7) in 2004
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 1
• July-August: 0
• September-October: 1
• November-December: 10
• January-February: 12
Summary: Vandy needed a big class, but another two-loss season meant it had to scrape together 22 out of 24 recruits at the end of the 2004 season.

2006 CLASS
Vandy records: 2-9 (1-7) in 2004 and 5-6 (3-5) in 2005
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 4
• July-August: 3
• September-October: 0
• November-December: 9
• January-February: 8
Summary: After yet another two-win season, Bobby Johnson and company hit the trail hard and somehow had seven recruits before the start of the season. Jay Cutler's arm and the upset of UT helped the team land another 17 recruits before the next season started, but the real payoff would be the following year...

2007 CLASS
Vandy records: 5-6 (3-5) in 2005 and 4-8 (1-7) in 2006
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 6
• July-August: 3
• September-October: 0
• November-December: 3
• January-February: 1
Summary: Following the theory that a team benefits most two seasons later, Johnson landed nine recruits in the summer after Cutler's senior season and the UT victory. After a disappointing finish in 2007, Vandy closed with four recruits.

2008 CLASS
Vandy records: 4-8 (1-7) in 2006 and 5-7 (2-6) in 2007
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 5
• July-August: 5
• September-October: 0
• November-December: 2
• January-February: 9
Summary: While Vanderbilt staggered a bit in 2006, Johnson's signature victory over Georgia that season and the buzz that the talent level was improving helped him garner 10 commitments by the end of the summer. After his big victory over Steve Spurrier and another narrow miss at six wins and a bowl, Johnson landed 11 more players.

2009 CLASS
Vandy records: 5-7 (2-6) in 2007 and 7-6 (4-4) in 2008
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 3
• July-August: 7
• September-October: 0
• November-December: 2
• January-February: 6
Summary: More proof that sustained improvement over two seasons helps a school start and finish strong on the recruiting trail. An encouraging 5-win season helped Vandy land 10 recruits by the end of the the summer, two before the bowl, and another 6 players, five of them three-star recruits, after the bowl victory.

2010 CLASS
Vandy records: 7-6 (4-4) in 2008
Verbal commitments:
• June and earlier: 10
Summary: Exactly what Johnson was talking about on the last signing day. Summer's just starting, and he's already got commitments from 10 players, four more than he got after Cutler's senior season. If Vanderbilt can build on last season's success on the gridiron, then Johnson will land more talented players, even some four-star guys, between the end of the season and signing day.

Vanderbilt battles rest of SEC for football talent

Yesterday we told you that Vanderbilt has made a bunch of offers to guys who are currently entertaining other offers, some would say better offers, from other SEC schools.

Here are some specific numbers:

According to scouts.com, Vanderbilt has now extended 79 offers to high school football players. Of these, two have verbally committed to the Commodores, six have committed to other SEC schools, six have committed to schools in other conferences, and 65 are still mulling their options and presumably being lured by the thought of wearing black and gold and hearing a foghorn after they make a big play (they do still play the foghorn at Dudley Field, don't they?)

Anyway, these 79 players have received a total of 74 offers from SEC schools. Which SEC schools have made offers to the same players Vanderbilt has? Glad you asked. Here's the breakdown:

Kentucky, 11 offers (1 verbal commitment)
Auburn, 10 (1 verbal)
Ole Miss, 10
Alabama, 8 (2 verbal)
Miss State, 7
South Carolina, 7
Tennessee, 6
Arkansas, 6
Georgia, 6 (1 verbal)
LSU, 3 (1 verbal)
Florida, 2