Vanderbilt should allow football recruits to enroll early

Just wondering why Vanderbilt’s the only school in the SEC that doesn’t allow its football signees – or any athletes or even any students – to enroll early and take second-semester classes.

I understand we’re different from schools like Tennessee and Alabama, and I appreciate that. When you’ve got a program with the least tradition and the smallest stadium and your biggest selling point is the best education in the SEC, then you don’t want to do anything to tarnish your image.

But I realized today that Kyle Griswould, a kid from my hometown of Columbus, Ga., has enrolled early at Duke and even participated in the spring game.

If Duke can do it, we can do it.

I mean, imagine if we had at least one of the three incoming running backs – Zac Stacy, Wesley Tate or Warren Norman – in spring practice. They’d be adjusted to school by the time the time the rest of the freshman class joins them in August. And, with Jared Hawkins injured, they’d already have a ton of reps under their belt.

While we’re still in fantasy land, imagine if we had at least one of the five incoming defensive backs who’d already been in school for a semester and participated in spring practice. I’m thinking especially of Eric Samuels and Trey Wilson, and maybe even Javon Marshall.

We’ve made huge strides since our chancellor was Joe B. Wyatt, who apparently thought that a crappy football team was a sign of a fine academic institution. His predecessor, Gordon Gee, eliminated the athletic department, which scared lots of folks, but our football team has actually improved since then, and anybody who knows anything about college football will tell you that Vanderbilt’s speed, depth and overall talent has improved dramatically since then.

In short, we’ve managed to improve our college football team while maintaining our academic excellence, even admitting kids like D.J. Moore who may have been considered at-risk but turned out to be model student-athletes. We've followed the spirit of the law without necessarily following the letter of the law.

So why can’t freshmen enroll early?

Gaston Miller enjoys "relaxing social scenes"

Another postcard from Gaston Miller. You know, he's the Vanderbilt running back sending regular dispatches from Greece, where he's spending the month studying abroad.

Gaston reports that he and his classmates (two males and 11 females) took a ferry to an island for the weekend, where Gaston apparently stayed on the beach while senior safety Joel Caldwell toured the island on an ATV.

Be careful, Joel, we need all the depth we can get in the secondary next season.

Anyway, Gaston enjoyed his time on the beach during the day. And at night, he notes, there were "relaxing social scenes."

Here's betting more football players are studying abroad next May.

At least it gives us something to blog about with spring practice over and more than three months until the season opener with Western Carolina.

Gaston Miller likes Greek food

Gaston Miller, the Vandy running back who's studying abroad this month, has filed another "Postcard from Gaston." He likes Greek food, including that yogurt spread they put on bread. His observations are interesting — he's a smart, thoughtful kid.

Check out the photo of Gaston, safety Joel Caldwell and the 12 other students on the trip. Eleven women and three men. Dang, I should have studied abroad when I was at Vandy.

Have a great Saturday.

Vandy's your daddy, or did you forget?

Well, I was going to blog today about D.J. Moore's progress in the Bears mini-camp but, really, who cares? What does it mean if he shuts down George Smith and looks great? Nothing. We'll know more in preseason games, but we're not really gonna know jack until D.J. gets into real game situations in the real regular season.

So anyway today I offer you a video called "Vandy's Our Daddy," prepared by a pseudo Gamecock fan who is actually a Clemson Tiger celebrating Vanderbilt's two-year run of domination over Steve Spurrier and friends. Very funny, and a reminder that our next date with South Carolina is only about five and a half months away.

Vanderbilt football players encouraged to get out of the weight room and go overseas

When 300-pound offensive tackle Mylon Brown signed with the Commodores a couple months ago, he told reporters how tough he knew it would be, but he was excited about the challenge of competing at such a high level.

He wasn't talking about playing in the SEC. He was talking about Vanderbilt's academics.

Coach Bobby Johnson knows he can't compete with Tennessee for guys like Bryce Brown, who are already thinking about which five luxury cars they're gonna buy when they sign an NFL contract in three years.

No, Johnson's looking for scholar-athletes. Guys like Gaston Miller and Joel Caldwell, who are in Greece right now taking a Maymester class called "Uncovering Greek Religion: Cults, Sanctuaries & Festivals in the Ancient World."

Miller's sending web postcards to the official Vanderbilt athletic site. Click here to read the first one.

Miller, a rising junior running back, and Caldwell, a rising senior safety, arrived in Greece on Tuesday. Miller said airport security was scanning body temperatures in an effort to detect swine flu.

For Miller, who hails from Murfreesboro, Tenn., it's his first trip overseas. He immediately noticed the small cars, the reckless drivers and the lack of open land.

Of course, Miller and Caldwell could be working out on campus right now instead of eating baklava.

That doesn't bother Johnson. "They can come back and still get in good shape by working out in June and July," he told the Commodores site. "I think it is fantastic, and I believe our players will be diligent enough to stay in shape when they are somewhere, and they won't be gone that long, so it is hard to get too out of shape."

In fact, Johnson thinks it may help him attract the kind of student-athletes he's looking for. "I think Gaston and Joel will have some good stories to tell and interest guys into looking at places all over the world that are available. We've already started talking to some recruits about it. A lot of regular college students across the country are studying abroad, and we want to make that available for our athletes."

If you had sons who were major college prospects — and had a head on their shoulders — wouldn't you want them to play for Bobby Johnson? I sure would.

Vanderbilt football season tickets available, of course

Headline on the Tennessean Web site: "Vandy football season tickets available."

Of course they're available.

Wouldn't it be news if Vandy football season tickets WEREN'T available?

But where else in the SEC can you buy a season ticket for $109? And unlike fans at places like Alabama and Georgia, you don't have to make a huge donation to earn the right to purchase season tickets.

Click here for more information on season tickets, which officially go on sale tomorrow.

It's a home good schedule too:

• Western Carolina, Sept. 5: This is the only so-called cupcake on the Vandy schedule. Hopefully we'll take the wraps off Larry Smith in this one. It'll be interesting to see which true freshmen get playing time. Best bets are defensive backs Eric Samuels and Trey Wilson, receiver Brady Brown and maybe one of the running backs (Zac Stacy, Wesley Tate, Warren Norman).

• Miss State, Sept. 19: Payback time. Last year we thought we'd need to beat the Bulldogs to have a winning season. We didn't, but it wasn't necessary. A victory over State in Nashville almost certainly will be necessary. And it's better we catch Dan Mullen's new offense early in the season.

• Ole Miss, Oct. 3: Nobody will expect us to beat the Rebels, which are in everybody's preseason Top 10. But don't underestimate the loss of first-round pick Michael Oher at left offensive tackle and first-round draft pick Peria Jerry at defensive tackle. Of course, with quarterback Jevan Snead and speedy receivers like Dexter McCluster, the Rebels will likely stay away from Myron Lewis and test our youth at the other corner.

• Georgia, Oct. 17: Ideally, you'd like to catch new starting quarterback Joe Cox earlier in the season, though if he slips and the Dawgs lose a couple of games early then Mark Richt might decide to break in a freshman quarterback, which is what happened when we beat Georgia and freshman Matthew Stafford in Athens in 2006. And our quarterback then was a redshirt sophomore from Alabama, Chris Nickson. This year it will likely be a redshirt sophomore from Alabama, Larry Smith.

• Georgia Tech, Oct. 31: This is a not the kind of non-conference game you want to play late in the season. We're capable of derailing the Yellow Jackets here or getting humiliated. Remember that Tech beat Miss State 35-7 the week before we lost to the Bulldogs in Starkville.

• Kentucky, No. 14: We haven't won a home finale since 2003, when we beat the Wildcats. This season's UK team has a tough D and a questionable O. Kind of like us. This is another game we likely must win to at least break .500 on the season.

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.