Exclusive: Jayvontay Conner Has Only Been at Vanderbilt For a Few Months, But He’s Grown a Lot – Sports Illustrated

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Four days after Vanderbilt concluded its 2025 season, the Commodores found an offensive skill player in the transfer portal that they feel will play a meaningful role to their offensive scheme in 2026.
Former East Carolina tight end Jayvontay Conner committed to Vanderbilt the first week of January. Per Rivals, he was rated as the second-most valuable transfer in Vanderbilt’s 2026 portal class.
When he suited up in the black and gold for the first time this spring during practice, Vanderbilt tight ends coach Brendan Flaherty recalled seeing flashes of greatness that Conner showed as a playmaker. But what Flaherty also noted was he felt Conner needed to be more consistent in his performance.
During the five-week spring period, Flaherty relayed to Vandy On SI that Conner’s consistency issue stemmed from a continual pattern of one or two errors in practice per day, whether it be drops or mental errors. From a body standpoint, Conner’s 220-pound frame was not conditioned enough to play a full SEC season.
In the months since, though, all of that has changed for the better.
“He’s improved his lifestyle. And I know right now he's working with a personal chef to make sure he's getting his body where it needs to be. By the time we finished spring, he was either high 220s or low 230s and today he was pushing 240,” Flaherty told Vandy On SI. “I think that's showing up, and that's just going to help him actually be able to play an entire SEC season, just building up his body that way.”
From a playmaking perspective, Flaherty says that Conner is much more consistent and improved. He has gotten his one to two errors in practice each day down to almost nothing. In fact, Flaherty only remembers one drop from Conner since spring ball ended in mid-April.
Conner is a player that Vanderbilt will need at some points this fall, especially considering the offense it runs. Vanderbilt’s offense involves the usage of multiple tight ends in the pass and running attack. With Eli Stowers now gone, Cole Spence will slide into more of a primary pass catching role, which opens a need for a tight end to carry offensive responsibility.
Conner is going to be looked at as a player that can carry some of that responsibility.
Last season with East Carolina, Conner caught 23 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns. He spent two seasons with the Pirates, but played just 82 snaps as a sophomore.
Vanderbilt is not the first SEC school Conner has been at, either. Conner began his college career at Ole Miss during the 2023 season, where he only appeared in three games and caught one pass for seven yards.
Back in the spring, Conner told reporters that he believes his second stint in the SEC is going to be better than the first. A lot has changed for Conner since he was last in the conference, including the changes he has made this offseason.
Perhaps the inconsistency that Flaherty pointed to was a result of learning a new system and a new scheme, which is notably different than the one Conner has experienced between Ole Miss and East Carolina.
There were definitely growing pains for him as he practiced in the spring, but the program believes there is no denying that Conner has put in the work to set himself up to be a player the coaching staff can trust in 2026.
“He’s done a good job of applying his learning and his experience from the spring, and moving it forward. So he is looking more consistent, still got to continue working on it, but that's everyone. That’s not just a Jayvontay thing, that's an all of us thing,” Flaherty told Vandy On SI.
Observing what Conner said about himself and his ability back in the spring, it is clear he believes in himself and has the necessary confidence. Combine that with the body transformation and the lessons he has learned and you find the player that Flaherty and the coaching staff see today.
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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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