Takeaways From a Surprising Vanderbilt Football Depth Chart Release – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Clark Lea was at the podium opening his first Tuesday press conference of the 2026 season, but all the attention had shifted off of him.
Instead, it was on a Vanderbilt communications staffer taking a walk around around Vanderbilt's media room passing out the golden document–Vanderbilt's 2026 depth chart. And, that depth chart did appear to be gold.
Here’s Vanderbilt’s 2026 depth chart. pic.twitter.com/HJtSMPAjAP
Vanderbilt's season-opening depth charts are generally chalk under Lea, but this Vanderbilt team has more parity and less star power across its roster than previous ones that he's assembled. As a result, Tuesday's depth chart release was chaos.
Here's a few takeaways from it.
Vanderbilt is listing Blaze Berlowitz as its starter, at least for now. 
Lea’s messaging leading into Tuesday made it plausible that Vanderbilt would have an or at quarterback, outlining that it’s not fully committed to Berlowitz as its starter. Berlowitz is labeled as the starter, though, indicating that the job is his to lose. 
That’s far from groundbreaking at this stage, though. Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis will still get snaps despite Berlowitz starting. The question is still in regard to how many snaps Curtis will take from Berlowitz and what he has to do in order to overtake him. That will become more clear on Saturday. 
Vanderbilt didn’t list a third-string quarterback, although Lea has previously tipped his hand in regard to that label. The expectation is that junior quarterback Whit Muschamp is third in line to see the field. 
Here’s the biggest surprise on the depth chart, although it probably shouldn’t have been. 
Johnson wasn’t running first team much at the end of camp, but multiple sources told Vandy on SI that he’s among the program’s most highly-compensated players. Generally, following the money can solve depth chart issues. Lea has shown a willingness to evaluate without that factor involved, though, and he did here. Perhaps it was naive to believe that Johnson not running with the first team often was a tool to help protect Curtis when he wasn’t with the starters. 
Nope. 
Lea said Irving was among the program’s best performers on the offensive line throughout camp, and Irving said this camp was his best one yet. Irving beat Johnson out, fair and square. It sounds like Johnson will still play, but he won’t be a starter to open the season. Good for Irving, but Vanderbilt probably didn’t imagine that would be printed on the depth chart when it signed Johnson. 
STAR was an intriguing battle throughout camp, and it came to a logical conclusion. 
Lawrence is Vanderbilt’s most talented STAR and will share the starting job with standout freshman Mason Lewis once the season begins. Lewis is the big surprise here, but he clearly outplayed Ruth in fall camp and earned a chance to play. 
Ruth came into camp with a chance to win the job, but he wasn’t as present around the ball as he had been in previous camps. He took a chance by withdrawing his name from the transfer portal and coming back to Vanderbilt, and it appears as if his decision hasn’t paid off the way he would’ve hoped. 
Right now, it’s Lawrence and Lewis…then Ruth. 
Wide receiver is where Vanderbilt’s actual depth chart deviated the most from Vandy on SI’s projections. It was a no-brainer that Junior Sherrill was going to start, but it seemed like Ja’Cory Thomas had won the WR2 battle. Evidently, he did not. 
That win went to Brycen Coleman, who moved to wide receiver from tight end in the spring and finished camp looking like one of the best receivers on the roster. There’s still some projection involved on Vanderbilt’s end here, but Coleman will make some flash plays that knock everyone’s socks off when the season opens. 
The numbers he finishes the season with relative to Thomas’ will be noteworthy. 
Looking back, Brown was always the better option for the third receiver spot than Cole Adams–who missed the end of camp, but is practicing again heading into Austin Peay. Brown was a notably consistent pass catcher throughout camp and was far more impressive than Adams. He can block, too, as he proved in game action a year ago. 
There’s still plenty of parity in Vanderbilt’s receiver room, but it has a different order of hierarchy than external perception would have indicated.
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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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