Jerron Seymour and Spencer Pulley burn redshirts — Did Joe Townsend? Did Andrew Bridges play?

Last year, Robbie Caldwell apparently decided to burn everybody’s redshirt trying to land the full-time head coaching job. In all, he played 12 true freshmen, including guys like Fitz Lassing and Chase Garnham who saw little action other than special teams. Before Caldwell, Bobby Johnson redshirted nearly everybody. That’s why this year’s roster has seven redshirt seniors, all of whom are starters or who’ve started in the past.

Though he talked on signing day about not believing in redshirting, James Franklin apparently meant he didn’t believe in telling hotshot new recruits that he believed in redshirting.

The only true freshman to see any significant playing time on Saturday was Jerron Seymour, who spelled a gimpy Zac Stacy and touched the ball six times for a total of 42 yards, with his longest plays being a 21-yard reception and a 14-yard run.

Spencer Pulley also jumped into some action at guard, when starter Jabo Burrow missed a play, and I think saw some mop-up duty later.

I confess to not seeing the game. I’m changing cable providers and getting CSS before the Vandy-UConn, so I’ll have both of the unofficial Vandy networks, CSS and ESPNU. It ticks me off how unreliable the final report is on the official Vanderbilt athletic site. The http://vucommodores.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/090311aae.html say that true freshman Joe Townsend also played in the game but redshirt freshman Andrew Bridges did not, but the list of game participants in the box score lists Bridges but not Townsend.

Let me know if you saw Townsend and/or Bridges in the game, and if you saw any other true freshmen playing.

We know Seymour and Pulley played – two true freshmen at the least – and maybe Townsend too for a total of three. If Townsend played and Bridges didn’t then none of the offensive linemen in the 2010 signing class – Bridges, Chase White, Grant Ramsay and the injured Logan Stewart – played against Elon while we burned the redshirts off Pulley and Townsend. That’s disappointing.

The other guys who saw their very first NCAA action on Saturday were:
• Redshirt junior quarterback Jordan Rodgers
• Three walk-ons: cornerback Reggie Ford and linebackers Kellen Williams and Robby Barbieri
• Five redshirt freshmen: receivers Trent Pruitt and Chris Boyd, defensive ends Kyle Woestmann and Thomas Ryan and linebacker/snapper Andrew East – or six if Andrew Bridges actually played.

Other scholarship players, not counting true freshmen, who haven’t played yet are
White, Ramsay, DT Vince Taylor and LB Blake Gowder.

Guys with playing experience who aren’t listed as playing last night include sophomores Logan Stewart, who’s injured, and safety Andre Simmons. Not sure what’s up with him.

Two-star guys steal the show among Vandy freshmen

The Dores don full pads tomorrow, and Coach Franklin says that’s when “some guys will show up” and “some guys will disappear.” That didn’t stop him from assessing the progress of players so far.

Here are some players he highlighted at the end of Tuesday’s practice:

• R-JR TE Austin Monahan is healthy for the first time in three years, but Franklin said it’ll take preseason camp for him to build confidence in his repaired knee. Franklin’s fully aware that Monahan started ahead of Barden back in the day and he seems excited about using both of them in formations.

• R-FR WR Chris Boyd has done “some nice things” and is a candidate to join sophomores Jordan Matthews and Jonathan Krause in the starting lineup, but Franklin lists the receivers, particularly depth, as a “position of concern of mine” and said the lack of playmakers there could “limit what we’d like to do offensively.” “We need some guys to step up,” he said.

• R-JR Josh Jelesky is adjusting well to his move to the offensive line from defensive tackle. Franklin said he wasn’t sure how much Jelesky would help the offensive line but that he is “fighting for a starting job right now.” I’d be really surprised if Jelesky goes from a third-string defensive tackle to a starting offensive linemen in the SEC in less than a month, but we’ll see.

• FR DT Barron Dixon is performing well so far, and likely helped coaches decide to move Jelesky to offensive line.

• R-FR DT Vince Taylor “has matured significantly since spring.” Franklin said he’s still learning but he’s a “very talented guy” who “looks like he’s 255 but he’s 295 and carries it well.”

• FR DE/LB Darien Bryant has “intrigued” Franklin and his staff. He’s “a long, angular, athletic kid who can really run.” Primarily evaluated as a tight end by recruiting services, Bryant looks stouter than his listed 6-foot-4, 220 pounds.

• FR S Andrew Williamson has emerged as the most impressive and game-ready of the four or five true freshmen defensive backs. He was a two-star recruit who’s been an afterthought so far in any discussions about freshman contributors, but Franklin said he’s “further ahead” than three-star safeties Larry Franklin and Jahmel McIntosh and hotshot cornerback Derek King, the Brentwood product who had an offer from Auburn and who Franklin says “doesn’t look like a freshman.”

• Speaking of freshmen coming from nowhere, Spencer Pulley is the most impressive of the true freshmen offensive linemen so far despite being overshadowed by James Lewis, Jake Bernstein and even Jose Valedon. Franklin said he’s like to redshirt Pulley if he could but that he might be pressed into duty sometime during the season, which is what happened to Logan Stewart last year. Pulley got two stars from Scout and ESPN, while Lewis and Bernstein were consensus three star guys.

• FR OL Jake Bernstein is the other offensive lineman who has the best chance of seeing action as a true freshman, Franklin said. Meanwhile, James Lewis, who looks massive, is hobbled on the sideline with an injured foot.

But get ready for new names and faces after the hitting starts tomorrow.