Vanderbilt Football Stock Exchange After Week 3 Win Over NC State – Sports Illustrated

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Up until the very last moments of Vanderbilt football’s game against NC State, the Commodores looked dead in the water. The towel was mailed in with the assumption Vanderbilt was going to finish its nonconference slate 2-1.
But then the miracle on the West End happened in the south end zone at First Bank Stadium. Vanderbilt EDGE Miles Capers punched the ball out of NC State quarterback CJ Bailey’s arm and cornerback Cayden Daniels fell on the loose ball, giving Vanderbilt a win.
In the game, there was some stuff to like, and other things that need to be improved going forward. Here is this week’s Vanderbilt football stock exchange.
Miles Capers raised his already proven and high stock. It is pretty simple: if Capers does not get to Bailey and does not punch the ball out of his arm, Vanderbilt is walking into Auburn 2-1 and the Commodores’ bowl eligibility odds much lower than what it is now.
Capers’ heroic moment has changed the course of Vanderbilt’s season, at least for now. Overall, it was not his best performance in his Vanderbilt career. He totaled three tackles, one tackle for loss and the forced fumble to help his team pull off a miracle.
But in a moment where Vanderbilt needed a prayer, one of the primary guys the program relies on came through and delivered a play that will live in Vanderbilt football lore forever.
Capers knows he has to play a huge factor as Vanderbilt goes through its SEC gauntlet over the next nine games. Perhaps he uses his moment as a springboard to be extra effective in conference play.
Maybe the drop issues were just one bad game against Delaware. After all, he is the leader in Vanderbilt’s receiving room and he knows his drops he had on Sept. 12 could not happen again. And he bounced back huge.
Sherrill had two touchdowns in the win over NC State, leading the Commodores in receptions and receiving yards with six catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns on seven targets. Sherrill went to work in practice and it produced results.
What was even more encouraging from Sherrill is that it looks like he is really starting to click with Vanderbilt’s five-star freshman starting quarterback Jared Curtis. During Thursday’s media availability leading up to the NC State game, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told reporters that Curtis and Sherrill have been staying after practice to work on getting more on the same page and improving the chemistry between them.
After the win, Sherrill reinforced that sentiment.
“We’ve been working on this since summer and really since we heard he was going to start this week, we’ve turned it up just to get some chemistry down. We stayed after practice a couple times to throw and get some of those deep balls to connect with. Obviously, you can see how it turned out,” Sherrill said.
If that chemistry grows, Curtis to Sherrill could become one of the more lethal quarterback-receiver duos in the SEC. That could certainly translate to wins during the SEC schedule.
Vanderbilt true freshman Mason Lewis was listed on the starting spot at the STAR position ahead of the NC State game. After just a few months on campus, Lewis has done a great job already of inserting himself in the Commodore defense and finding an important role for himself.
Against Austin Peay and Delaware, Lewis was listed alongside Jailen Ruth for the backup spot at STAR. Evidently, his performance through the first two weeks were enough for Lea and his coaches to give him a bigger role. In the win over NC State, Lewis tied Ricardo Jones and CJ Heard for the most tackles of all Vanderbilt defenders with eight tackles. Six of Lewis’ eight tackles were solo tackles.
He may not be the biggest body on defense, but Lewis’ ability to tackle and hit opponents has been valuable to Vanderbilt. If he can keep that up, who knows how much he will grow by the end of the regular season.
Vanderbilt cornerback Jordan Matthews, and frankly the Vanderbilt secondary, had its worst of three games on the season thus far. Matthews has been the No. 2 cornerback for the Commodore defense, but he did not show that against NC State.
Despite being on the field, Matthews did not record a tackle or any defensive statistic for that matter. His impact needs to be felt and he needs to be much better of a playmaker if Vanderbilt is going to be competitive in its hardest games.
Maybe it is just one bad game, but he has to show going forward that he is deserving of being a top two corner on the roster.
During fall camp, this looked like it could be the best defense Clark Lea has had in his Vanderbilt tenure. But it looked far from that against NC State. The Wolfpack moved down the field far too easily.
NC State had 446 total yards of offense, 280 passing yards and 146 rushing yards. Sure, Vanderbilt’s defense bent but did not break in the final moment of the game, but Vanderbilt made it almost too easy on CJ Bailey and NC State’s offense for a majority of the game.
NC State finished 7-for-16 on third down and 3-for-5 on fourth down. That is not a typically winning recipe for Vanderbilt’s defense. Vanderbilt’s defense does deserve credit for getting a couple stops late in the game to eventually set up the wild finish, but a slow start defensively is not going to fly in SEC play.
The game at Auburn Saturday will show more of where exactly the Vanderbilt defense is at before it gets to the most challenging SEC opponents.
This is the second straight week wide receiver Ja’Cory Thomas has been invisible for Vanderbilt’s offense. Again, he was active for the game and did play against NC State.
But for the second week in a row, Thomas did not catch a single pass, nor was targeted. Coming from Old Dominion. Thomas was supposed to be one of the more notable transfer additions the Commodores got in the offseason. But the return Vanderbilt has gotten so far has much left to be desired.
Lea did mention during his last Tuesday press conference that Thomas did have a soft tissue injury in camp, but made sure to clarify he is not burdened by it now. However, he did say that there were missed rep opportunities in camp because of it.
Perhaps the last two weeks are a byproduct of missed reps, but it is something to continue to monitor.
“I think Ja’Cory gives us a chance, another guy on the perimeter that can get behind the defense. And we need to grow comfort in him,” Lea said. “We’re going to need Ja’Cory.”
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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