Vanderbilt Basketball Adding Gabe Nesmith A Year Early Indicates Mark Byington Is All In On 2026-27 Season – si.com

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NASHVILLE—-The Joe Namath comparison gets brought up to Mark Byington as a joke and before he can finish laughing, he’s already clarifying that a declaration like that wouldn’t be for him. 
Byington has never been one to outwardly reflect that way, and he still isn’t. If Byington ever guaranteed anything in the way Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl win, it would be a sure sign that he had strayed enough from his roots to be in need of some reflection. 
Despite all the buzz of the private belief that Vanderbilt’s staff has in his roster, Byington says publicly that he doesn’t know what he has in his third Vanderbilt team. And until he knows, he’s not one to speculate. 
For a second, though, Byington says enough to tip his hand. For a second, he stops to think about what could be. 
“We’re not going to make a bold statement and say what our goals are, but at the same time there’s no reason to say that’s not going to be our goal,” Byington said in regard to the Final Four and national championship game. “If that's going to be our goal this year, and maybe it comes together, maybe it doesn't. But then we're trying to do it again next year, and the next year and there's not going to be any complacency here being satisfied until we get it there.” 
When Byington said that on July 6, he possessed a roster that he says has more size than any of his other Vanderbilt teams, a star guard in Tyler Tanner and a team that wanted to win at a unique level. He knew at that point that he had a trick up his sleeve, too. 
While Byington addressed his roster, five-star recruit Gabe Nesmith was in the midst of tying up a few loose ends academically and preparing for his final events as a high-school basketball player. Nesmith was already the most highly-decorated high school commit of Byington’s tenure, but what the public didn’t know at that point was that he was set to join Vanderbilt in the weeks following his commitment. Byington couldn’t hint at it, either. 
In Nesmith Vanderbilt is landing a true three-level scorer that evaluators believe has a real path to becoming an NBA guy at some point down the line. On a roster full of proven college players with likely pro futures, Nesmith is among the most talented. The indication is that Byington believes he’ll be an impact player right away as a reclassified freshman. 
The move for Vanderbilt and Nesmith is an inherent risk in that he’s joining the team after it’s already been together for its weeks-long summer program and is its least experienced player. Nesmith still has to improve as a defender, has to get stronger and says he’s placed an emphasis on improving his catch-and-shoot efficiency. 
Vanderbilt selling Nesmith—who said he didn’t consider a reclassification until May—on joining the team a year early indicates that it’s all in on this 2026-27 team, though. 
Byington told Nesmith in the recruiting process that he aspired to take Vanderbilt to the national championship in 2026-27 and that he wanted to add one more real player in order to push for that goal. Nesmith bought that vision.
“I just want to accomplish winning the SEC,” Nesmith told Vandy on SI, “And winning the national championship.” 
Vanderbilt guard Ace Glass told Vandy on SI that he believed Vanderbilt turned into a Final Four contender when Tanner opted to return to school the day before the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline. If he believed that back then, who knows what he’s saying these days. Who knows what Vanderbilt is believing about itself these days. 
Assuming that Glass and a number of Vanderbilt’s best players believe they can be a real national championship contender is likely fair at this stage. There’s still some questions in regard to the shooting on the roster and there’s risk involved with Byington adding Nesmith a year early, when he still has some development needed. That’s not at the top of anyone’s mind these days, though. 
Nesmith believes in himself enough to believe that he’ll find a role as an off-the-bounce scorer right away at Vanderbilt—which also appears to believe that—but he’s insistent that his biggest focus is doing whatever Byington needs him to in order to win. Nesmith is Byington’s first five-star player, though, and is as dynamic an off-the-bounce scorer as Vanderbilt has landed in high school recruiting. He’s a truly elite prospect. 
Vanderbilt expects him to give it something, and he likely will.
Who knows if Nesmith starts. Who knows if he has a high-volume off the bounce role. Who knows if he’s fully ready to be a big contributor at the SEC level. In any case, though, Vanderbilt adding him is Byington indicating that he believes in this roster and is pushing all his chips in on it. 
In a similar way, Nesmith is convicted by what Byington has around him. He wouldn’t have agreed to this plan if he didn’t believe it could lead to a deep run. He wouldn’t have agreed if he didn’t believe that this Vanderbilt basketball team could make one. 
“We have a team with a lot of depth,” Nesmith said. “I just think we have a pretty well-rounded team. The bigs are great. The guards are
great. Wings are great.” 
The "great" wings are a whole lot better now. So is Byington’s team as a whole.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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