Vanderbilt football has one transfer who will miss time in the 2026 season due to injury.
CJ Jackson, an edge transfer from LSU, had surgery for an injury suffered a few weeks ago, Clark Lea said. It’s an injury that will stretch into the season, though Lea did not specify whether he will miss the entire season.
Jackson was a developmental project when the Commodores took him, having appeared in six career games with the Tigers.
Jackson is currently the only long-term injury for Vanderbilt. Several notable players sat out the spring game, including Junior Sherrill, Sedrick Alexander and Cole Spence, but that was what Lea termed as “exposure management,” avoiding serious injury in the spring, rather than a current significant issue. Some other players are banged up or recovering from offseason surgery but expected to return before the start of the season.
One of those players is Yilanan Ouattara. The defensive lineman missed all but one game in 2025 due to a shoulder injury for which he had surgery. He has been able to work into some practice during the spring but did not play in the spring game.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at [email protected] or on X @aria_gerson.
