Exclusive: Clark Lea Evaluates Talent and Experience of Vanderbilt’s Offensive Line – Sports Illustrated

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When watching Vanderbilt football over the past couple seasons and analyzing how the Commodores have been able to pull off a quick turnaround, it is easy to see that one of the biggest pieces to their success has been how steady they have been on the offensive line.
Vanderbilt’s offensive line, which is known as “The Union,” has been the engine that helps the Commodores’ offense run smoothly. There is a reason that the offensive line was named a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award during the 2025 season.
But going into 2026, there are a lot of new faces on the offensive line. Vanderbilt lost Jordan White, Isaia Glass and Bryce Henderson from its position room. As a result, it brought in Beau Johnson from North Dakota State, Lyndon Cooper from Pittsburgh and Micah DeBose from Alabama. The Commodores were also able to keep valuable member of the line Cade McConnell.
Looking at the newfound offensive line, what sticks out is the talent but also recognizing the chemistry that has to continue to develop over time. But Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea sees not just the talent but also the experience his guys up front have despite how much chemistry or lack thereof there was when spring ball began.
“The people are there, the snap experience is there. I think we have the best o-line coaches in the country. I totally trust their ability to get this group playing as one,” Lea told Vandy On SI. “I saw it happen in the spring, and we need to double down on that in the summer. But I’m excited about this group. Obviously you cannot win in our league if you can’t win on the offensive and defensive lines.”
One of the guys that Lea pointed to Vandy On SI about was Lyndon Cooper. Cooper started at center for two seasons at Pittsburgh and became a team captain. He started all 12 games for the Panthers a season ago and retained a pass block rating of 77.3, per Pro Football Focus (PFF) analytics.
The numbers and his captainship at Pittsburgh show that he has the experience to be a very critical piece of Vanderbilt’s offensive line this season. His experience indicates he may end up being heavily relied upon by the coaching staff. But Lea feels Cooper has to embrace what the program is about, too.
“His snap experience is there even though it’s not been in the black and gold. I think we can lean on that. I also think for guys like Lyndon, it’s learning about our program and making sure he’s taking an approach that looks like Vanderbilt football. As a center, this was where Jordan [White] was masterful a year ago. I felt like he became Vanderbilt football and Vanderbilt football became him. Lyndon needs to go through that same process,” Lea said.
McConnell is one of the guys up front in addition to seventh-year offensive lineman Kevo Wesley that will be relied on the most in terms of bringing the offensive line together. McConnell brings the experience on and off the field to the position room while Wesley is a player that has been in the program since before Lea even arrived to coach in Nashville.
Wesley is returning from an injury that kept him out of the 2025 season, but made five starts on the offensive line during the 2024 season. 
Not only will Lea look to those two to help guide the room from a chemistry and culture standpoint, but so will offensive line coaches Chris Klenakis and Jeff Nady.
Lea seems to have confidence in terms of how his offensive line developed in the spring, though. He feels the chemistry has picked up and he knows that will have to continue throughout the summer and into fall camp. But where he has more confidence is the ability and the depth of his guys on the offensive line even though they have not seen game action together yet.
Most of all, Lea knows that the direction of Vanderbilt’s 2026 season is largely dependent on the performance of the offensive line.
“This will be a huge part of our success. How do you establish a run game? How do we protect the pocket and allow a new quarterback to have the chance to be productive and come into his own? I think this group is going to be big in our vision for success,” Lea told Vandy On SI.
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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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