Will any more true freshmen play for Vandy this season?

So far, 10 of Vanderbilt’s true freshmen have played this season. Let’s take a closer look at the freshman class’s playing time. What are the chances the remaining 14 will get on the field?

BURNED THEIR REDSHIRTS

1. Jonathan Krause, WR: Has started two games and appears to be our best receiver; coaches need to get the ball in his hands.
2. Kenny Ladler, S: Started at free safety for the injured Jay Fullam against Ole Miss and looked impressive; too good to keep off the field.
3. Carey Spear, PK: Handling kickoff duties and is starting to loosen up and get some touchbacks.
4. Jordan Matthews, WR: Primarily playing special teams but is second team receiver and is slowly getting more time with offense; has struggled with tendonitis; expect him to get significantly more playing time and be a starter by season’s end.
5. Andre Simmons, S: Primarily playing special teams but has seen some snaps at safety and will get more action as season progresses.
6. Chase Garnham, LB: Playing special teams; listed as John Stokes’ backup ahead of projected starters Dexter Daniels and DeAndre Jones; will see more time on defense later in season.
7. Andre Hal, CB: Playing special teams; a skilled cover man who’ll get worked into the defense sometime during the remainder of the season.
8. Steven Clarke, CB: Playing special teams; an impressive athlete who’ll get some snaps at cornerback and who’s also an emergency running back.
9. Karl Butler, S: Playing special teams; with Fullam and Richardson gimpy, coaches wouldn’t hesitate to put him in big-game situations.
10. Fitz Lassing, TE: Playing special teams; with Austin Monahan gone for the season and Brandon Barden battling injury, he’ll likely see some action on offense.

STILL ELIGIBLE FOR REDSHIRT

1. James Kittredge, OL: Second-team center whom coaches won’t hesitate to play if Joey Bailey or another lineman gets injured or performs poorly; they’d prefer to redshirt him so he can start for four years, but with only two veteran backups ahead of him, that may be unlikely
2. Logan Stewart, OL: Second-team guard; another guy coaches like and could play in a pinch but would prefer to redshirt.
3. Chris Boyd, WR: Still developing; fans have been screaming for him to play, but he’s waiting in line for Krause and Matthews to get their shot first; if Matthews steps up, junior Tray Herndon keeps improving and senior Turner Wimberly keeps catching the ball, then Boyd could redshirt.
4. Chase White, OL: The 10th lineman on the team, he’s traveling with the team and is ready to play if needed, but he’ll likely redshirt.
5. Jared Morse, DT: With redshirt sophomores Colt Nichter, Josh Jelesky and Taylor Loftley stepping up and with Adam Smotherman poised to return, expect Morse to redshirt.
6. Vince Taylor, DT: An impressive, game-ready player who broke his hand in preseason and hasn’t been traveling with the team. If the D-line continues to play well, coaches would love to see Taylor redshirt and start for four years.
7. Kyle Woestmann, DE: With five ends in the playing rotation, it’s unlikely that Woestmann will play this year; coaches would love to see him compete for a starting position next year as a redshirt freshman.
8. Jordan Rodgers, QB (JUCO transfer): Struggling with a shoulder injury and may have surgery. Will likely redshirt unless Larry Smith and Jared Funk get injured. Remember, Vandy needs somebody to play quarterback in 2012.
9. Andrew East, LB/SN: A definite redshirt as a linebacker, but he’d get a long look if anything happened to longsnappers David Giller and John Stokes
10. Trent Pruitt, WR: Considered the fourth option among freshmen Krause, Matthews and Boyd. Expect him to redshirt.
11. Thomas Ryan, DT: Recruited as an end, he’s now listed as a defensive tackle but is still awfully light in the britches. He’ll redshirt and take a year to put on some weight.
12. Andrew Bridges, OL: A 240-pound kid with a huge frame, he’ll take a redshirt and pack on the pounds.
13. Blake Gowder, HB: An athlete with potential to play several positions, he’ll take a redshirt to recover from a shoulder injury and find a place to compete in the spring.
14. Grant Ramsay, OL: Once considered the most likely freshman lineman to play this season, Ramsay has injured his knee and is a definite redshirt.

New Vanderbilt depth chart reflects minor changes

Here’s how this week’s depth chart compares to the opening week depth chart:

RECEIVERS
Still starting: R-SO John Cole and R-JR Udom Umoh
New starters: FR Jonathan Krause (replacing R-SR Turner Wimberly)
Still backups: FR Jordan Matthews
New backups: Wimberly, R-JR Tray Herndon (replacing R-SO Akeem Dunham)

QUARTERBACK
Still starting: R-JR Larry Smith
Still backup: R-SR Jared Funk

RUNNING BACKS
Still starting: SO Warren Norman or SO Zac Stacy
Still backups: R-SR Kennard Reeves and R-FR Wesley Tate

TIGHT END
Still starting: R-JR Brandon Barden
Still backup: R-FR Mason Johnston (will start if Barden not recovered from injury)

CENTER
Still starting: R-SR Joey Bailey
Still backup: FR James Kittredge

OFFENSIVE GUARDS
Still starting: R-JR Kyle Fischer
New starter: R-SO Caleb Welchans (replacing R-SO Jabo Burrow)
Still backup: FR Logan Stewart
New backup: Burrow

OFFENSIVE TACKLES
Still starting: R-FR Wesley Johnson,
New starter: R-SO Ryan Seymour
Still backups: R-FR Mylon Brown
New backup: Welchans (replacing FR Chase White)

DEFENSIVE TACKLES
Still starting: R-JR T.J. Greenstone and R-SO Rob Lohr
Still backups: R-SO Josh Jelesky and R-SO Colt Nichter (will start if Greenstone not recovered from injury)

DEFENSIVE ENDS
Still starting: SR Theron Kadri
New starter: R-JR Tim Fugger (replacing R-SR Teriall Brannon)
Still backup: R-SO Johnell Thomas
New backup: Brannon

LINEBACKERS
Still starting: R-JR Chris Marve, SR John Stokes
New starter: R-SR Nate Campbell (replacing R-SO Archibald Barnes)
Still backup: FR Chase Garnham
New backups: Barnes and Campbell (replacing R-SO Dexter Daniels and R-SO DeAndre Jones)

CORNERBACKS
Still starting: JR Casey Hayward and SO Eddie Foster
Still backup: SO Eric Samuels and SO Trey Wilson

SAFETIES
Still starting: JR Sean Richardson and R-FR Jay Fullam
Still backup: FR Kenny Ladler (will continue to start if Fullam not recovered), FR Andre Simmons

SPECIAL TEAMS
Still starting: R-SO Ryan Fowler at field goal kicker, R-SO Richard Kent at punter and holder, R-JR David Giller at snapper, FR Carey Spear at kickoff specialist, SO Warren Norman at kick returner
New starter: SO Zac Stacy at punt returner (replacing R-SO John Cole)

Vanderbilt hones offense, gets healthy during bye week

In his press conference today, Coach Robbie Caldwell said UConn is “much like Northwestern — maybe not the same at quarterback.” Northwestern’s Dan Persa is proving to be the real deal and is now the No. 2 rated quarterback in the nation in passing efficiency.

Caldwell listed UConn’s strengths as:
• A very strong power running game, with a big offensive line.
• An outstanding power back in Jordan Todman, who missed last week’s trouncing of Buffalo and is questionable for Saturday’s game.
• A big defensive front.

He said the team spent the bye week working on the following:
• On offense: Running the option, throwing screens, throwing the ball downfield, and protecting the passer
• On defense: Coverages and keeping pads down

As for people dismissing Vandy’s victory over Ole Miss, Caldwell said, “I saw where Ole Miss beat the dog crap out of Fresno so maybe we did something good down there.”

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY?
Caldwell said Saturday’s game at UConn will be officiated by an SEC crew. Maybe we can get the kind of home cooking that Northwestern got in Nashville from a Big 10 crew.

INJURY UPDATE

• TE Brandon Barden: Caldwell said Barden has been practicing and “looked pretty good running around.” Just in case, he’s being listed on the depth chart as a co-starter with redshirt freshman Mason Johnston.

• DT T.J. Greenstone says he’s ready to return from injury, but Caldwell said, “The verdict’s still out.” He’s being listed as a co-starter along with redshirt sophomore Colt Nichter, who spelled Greenstone against Ole Miss.

• DT Adam Smotherman is “not quite ready,” Caldwell said.

• Jamie Graham “looks like he’s gonna be ready,” Caldwell said. He said Graham will boost depth in the secondary, especially considering that starting safeties Sean Richardson and Jay Fullam are “nicked up.” True frosh Kenny Ladler started in place of Fullam against Ole Miss and looked sharp.

• Lineman Chris Aaron, who’s been out since preseason with an inner ear problem, is ready to return, says left tackle Wesley Johnson, but Caldwell did not confirm this.

• Wesley Tate continues to recover from a foot injury and will continue to become more involved in the offense as he regains the ability to cut on his foot.

• Warren Norman had fluid drained from his knee and is close to returning to old form. Both he and Zac Stacy “feel better” and “look better” according to Caldwell.

Vanderbilt opponents stumble out of the gate

Remember all that talk about the 10 bowl teams on Vandy’s schedule? Well, it’s been tough sledding for many of them. In fact, only four of the nine teams remaining on Vandy’s schedule have winning records after four games. Let’s review:

AT CONNECTICUT (Oct. 2)
Record: 2-2.
Wins: Blowout victories over Texas Southern and Buffalo
Losses: Michigan and Temple by a combined score of 26-60.
Stock: DOWN. Husky fans expected to be 3-1 at the least.
Timing: This is a trap game for the Huskies, who’ve got a big ESPN game against Rutgers the Friday after the Vandy game.
MV! preseason prediction: 31-21 Vandy.
Still feasible?: YES. Though we may need some defensive or special teams TDs to put up 31 points. Also, the Huskies are 10-point favorites, so we’re definitely going out on a limb here. A win by any margin would be huge for the Dores.

EASTERN MICHIGAN (Oct. 9)
Record: 0-4
Losses: A 4-point loss to Army, followed by another narrow loss to Miami-Ohio and a blowout to Central Michigan and Ohio State.
Stock: UP. Put a scare into Army, who beat Vandy last season and Duke on Saturday
Timing: If EMU beats Ohio this week, which isn’t beyond reason, they could be sky-high for the Commodores
MV! preseason prediction: 30-10 Vandy
Still feasible?: YES. Though it could be closer, especially if we try to get more young receivers and quarterbacks into the mix.

AT GEORGIA (Oct. 16)
Record: 1-3
Wins: Louisiana-Lafayette
Losses: South Carolina, Arkansas, Miss State by a combined score of 72-48.
Stock: WAY DOWN. The natives are restless.
Timing: The Dawgs could be back on track against Vandy after the return of A.J. Green and games against Colorado and Tennessee.
MV! preseason prediction: 24-15 Georgia
Still feasible?: YES. Though it could be much closer if Aaron Murray continues to adjust. But the Dawgs will try to pound the ball on the ground against the Dores, and their defense is awfully fast and talented. It’ll be tough to score on these guys. We still think this is a loss, but maybe 17-10.

SOUTH CAROLINA (Oct. 23)
Record: 3-1
Wins: Southern Miss, Georgia, Furman
Losses: at Auburn
Stock: UP. This is a top 10 football team that’s going to put a serious scare into both Alabama and Florida.
Timing: After a bye week and an emotional home game against Alabama, the Gamecocks go on the road against Kentucky and then Vanderbilt.
MV! preseason prediction: 27-20 SC
Still feasible?: YES, if Spurrier is still jerking his starting quarterbacks around. But this is a ridiculously talented team with a big prototypical tailback, huge athletic receivers and a scary fast defense. Don’t expect us to ring up 20 against these guys. (What were we smoking?) They’ve got to give us plenty of help (penalties, dropped passes, missed assignments) for us to have a chance of winning.

AT ARKANSAS (Oct. 30)
Record: 3-1
Wins: Tennessee Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, at Georgia
Losses: Alabama
Stock: STEADY. Mallett’s an awesome talent, and they’ve got plenty other weapons.
Timing: The Razorbacks could have an emotional letdown against Vandy after a glitzy game against Texas A&M in Cowboys Stadium, a war against Auburn and a home game against Houston Nutt and Ole Miss.
MV! preseason prediction: 38-27 Arkansas
Still feasible?: Wow, we were optimistic about our offense, huh? After seeing the Hogs D against Bama on Saturday, I don’t know we can get 27 against them. And while our secondary is great against the run, they’ve struggled some in coverage. This one could be worse than expected, but I think Arkansas will have a bit of a letdown against us.

FLORIDA (Nov. 6)
Record: 4-0
Wins: Miami-Ohio, South Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky
Stock: STEADY. We’ll know more after Saturday’s game in Tuscaloosa.
Timing: The Gators travel to Nashville after likely destroying Georgia in Jacksonville.
MV! preseason prediction: 31-14 Florida
Still feasible?: Seems about right, though it’ll be tough to score 14 against a speedy Florida D.

AT KENTUCKY (Nov. 13)
Record: 3-1
Wins: Louisville, Western Kentucky, Akron
Losses: Florida
Stock: STEADY. They’ve whipped a mediocre team and two terrible teams and they’ve gotten blasted by Florida. Nothing new.
Timing: After a tough string of SEC games, they’ll be coming off a blowout win over Charleston Southern.
MV! preseason prediction: 20-14 Vandy
Still feasible?: YES. I still like this score, though Randall Cobb still scares the heck out of me.

TENNESSEE (Nov. 20)
Record: 2-2
Wins: Tennessee-Martin, UAB in overtime
Losses: Blowouts to Oregon and Florida
Stock: DOWN. Showed some scrap against two Top 10 teams but the UAB win was awfully weak.
Timing: Coming off road game at Memphis and home game against Ole Miss.
MV! preseason prediction: 17-16 Vandy
Still feasible?: YES. This will be our best opportunity to beat the Vols for many years to come. We’d better take advantage of it.

WAKE FOREST (Nov. 27)
Record: 2-2
Wins: Presbyterian, Duke in a 54-48 shootout
Losses: Blowouts to Stanford and Florida State, surrendering 99 points
Stock: DOWN. Outside of EMU, this is the weakest team on Vandy’s schedule, lacking the star power and consistency of the teams that have beaten Vandy in recent years
Timing: Will face Vandy after a tough ACC stretch of Maryland, Boston College, NC State and Clemson.
MV! preseason prediction: 31-14 Vandy
Still feasible?: YES. Wake is well-coached and could rebound, but are staggering so far this season.

Larry Smith faces uphill climb in battle of passing efficiency ratings

A co-worker of mine, who happens to be a UT fan, was offering me kind words the other day about Vandy's victory over Ole Miss, adding that "your quarterback" played a great game and looks like a "nice" player.

Translation: I can't wait for him to face the Vols in November.

Larry's gotten an unfair rap so far, I think, in all three games, not withstanding the kind comments of UT fans:

• Game 1: Paired against Dan Persa, who after three games has complete an astounding 82 percent of his passes, has no interceptions, and is the nation's second most efficient passer. Performed admirably but was no Dan Persa.

• Game 2: Faced a massive LSU front that feasted on our young offensive line and a blue-chip secondary that shut down our shaky receivers. Was unable to carry the offensive by himself.

• Game 3: With the offensive line blowing holes big enough for trucks to drive through and the defense setting the tone and even scoring a touchdown, he wasn't required to light it up from the air. When he was dropping back and under pressure, he threw the ball away instead of taking a sack, which was a great improvement over his previous game. Except that it didn't do anything to improve his stats.

Larry's now ranked 98th in the nation in passing efficiency. Here's how he stands against the rest of the SEC (except for Miss State, which had no QB in the top 100):

PASSING EFFICIENCY
1. McElroy (Alabama): 200.03 (1st nationally)
2. Newton (Auburn): 187.66 (4th)
3. Mallett (Arkansas): 186.50 (5th)
4. Hartline (Kentucky): 170.16 (8th)
5. Garcia (Scouth Carolina): 143.79 (40th)
6. Murray (Georgia): 143.27 (41st)
7. Brantley (Florida): 137.97 (57th)
8. Masoli (Ole Miss): 129.26 (60th)
9. Simms (Tennessee): 120.89 (73rd)
10. Jefferson (LSU): 113.15 (89th)
11. Smith (Vanderbilt): 103.69 (98th)

The last time Vanderbilt had a bye week

It's been much publicized that Vandy had no bye week last year. So how did we do in 2008 after a bye week?

Glad you asked. Well, we entered the bye week after beating Ole Miss in Oxford in a game in which we forced a highly touted transfer quarterback into some critical errors, returned an interception for a touchdown, stuffed the Rebels on fourth and short, and sealed the game with a fumble recovery.

Sound familiar? (The highly touted transfer quarterback, if you've forgotten him already, was Jevan Snead.)

Anyway, after the bye week, in their fourth game of the season, the Commodores beat Auburn, as I'm sure you do remember.

Vanderbilt ranked No. 1 in nation in red zone efficiency... sort of

I'm not kidding. Vandy is really ranked No. 1 in the nation in red zone efficiency. The Commodores score 100 percent of the time when they start a play in the red zone.

That's the good news. The bad news? The Commodores are tied with Stanford, Oklahoma State, California, Nevada, East Carolina, Duke, South Carolina, Arkansas, Central Florida, Illinois, Pittsburgh, USC, Washington, BYU, Cincinnati, Memphis, Oregon State, San Jose State, Western Kentucky, Mississippi State and Florida Atlantic.

Oh, and Vandy's only been in the red zone four times all season. So while we're four for four in the red zone in three games, Stanford is 19 for 19 in the same number of games. So we're 100 percent and Stanford's 100 percent, but I bet Stanford feels better about its offense.

While the Ole Miss game made Vandy fans feel better about the offense, we've still got a long, long way to go. For example, Vandy is 54th in rushing offense but 110th in passing offense and 106th in total offense. Sure, we're no longer 119th in total offense, but I'll say we've improved when we at least have a double-digit ranking.

On defense, we're ranked 104th in rushing defense, 64th in passing efficiency defense, 82nd in total defense and 58th in scoring defense.

On the bright side of things, we're 23rd in turnover margin and 16th in tackles for loss.

But we should also remember that nearly every other team in America has opened its season with a bunch of second-tier teams.