Jaylen Carey Knew The Way to Vanderbilt Fans' Hearts. He Knew How to Become the Villain, Too. – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Remember when Jaylen Carey walked up to the table in Vanderbilt’s film room, sat down in a throwback Vanderbilt uniform and delivered perhaps the most compelling sentence of anyone who sat at that table did all season–no offense, Mark Byington. 
It wasn’t all that long ago that Carey made his statement and was beloved in every corner of Memorial Gymnasium. The then-Vanderbilt big man was young, he was a little bit crazy and appeared to possess a rare physicality that nobody else on Vanderbilt’s roster did. In the moments leading up to Carey sitting down at the table, he had just done something that all the best Vanderbilt basketball players do; he beat Tennessee. In a moment, he was about to drop a line that would fast track him towards immortalization around these parts. 
“We don’t like orange,” Carey said. 
Carey had just thrown in 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and was the most dominant player on the floor as Vanderbilt picked up its first win over the Volunteers since Tyrin Lawrence knocked them off at the buzzer in 2023. The then-Vanderbilt big man knew the way to Memorial Gymnasium’s heart. He knew the way to this fanbase’s heart. 
Turns out he knew it well enough to make it cold and fill it with hatred. 
The table that Carey sat down behind on that day has been moved to another room. He’s well…wearing and loving orange these days. His shorter haircut has indicated that the Rick Barnes basketball bootcamp has taken him from boy to man. Carey is a Tennessee Volunteer these days, and he’s become Vanderbilt basketball’s biggest villain just over a year after he was the man around these parts. 
Former Vanderbilt players Malik Dia, Carter Lang and Noah Shelby have returned to Memorial Gymnasium this season. Lang and Shelby’s returns were met with general apathy from those around Memorial Gymnasium. Dia’s was defined by some banter with the student section, but ended in a family and friend’s reunion on the floor postgame. Carey will have no such luxury. The betting odds on Carey having cordial interactions with many people wearing black and gold would likely indicate a long shot. 
The dynamic between the Tennessee big man and his former Vanderbilt coaching staff has still yet to be seen, but it can’t be friendly considering the background behind it. The way the exit happened left a bad taste in everyone on West End’s mouth. The private undertones within the Huber Center since Carey’s departure have included some sour grapes in regard to Carey’s maturity level and the practice incident that got him benched for the first half of Vanderbilt’s matchup with Oklahoma. Even the public-facing comments on a summer Twitch stream by Carey’s former teammate Tyler Nickel indicate the animosity at play here. 
Why wouldn’t Vanderbilt have animosity towards Carey? They gave him his first chance to play college basketball. Byington went to Florida in a hurricane to see Carey—who he believed was wrongly labeled as lazy—play as a high schooler. The now-Vanderbilt staff platformed him to do what he did against Tennessee last season as a teenager. He went out of his way to see if playing for Tennessee was a possibility. It seems like he isn’t all that fond of the program he’s left, either.  
“That other school,” Carey said when referring to Vanderbilt in a summer media availability. “I don’t like that place, but that place. Like I said, it was a great experience [playing against Tennessee]. I love this place and can’t wait to do big things in the big orange.”
With those comments, it’s on. 
Carey has always thrived by feeding off of the most tense environments he’s played in. Remember when Vanderbilt’s fanbase thought he wasn’t ready yet as he struggled to get up for buy games? Remember how he appeared to be a program cornerstone as he put it on Tennessee at Memorial Gymnasium and at Thompson Boling Arena? Well, he’s going to get the most tense environment that he’s ever played in on Saturday if the background here means anything to anyone involved. 
There will be signs. There will be chants. There will be an abundance of boo’s. There may be some back-and-forth between Carey and the Vanderbilt student section. This should end at words, but there will be plenty of unkind ones directed at Carey on Saturday. 
The Tennessee big man would be lucky if he doesn’t get boo’d on his way from the bus to the player’s entrance on the way into Memorial Gymnasium. That’s what he wants, too. When Carey was on the verge of announcing a public commitment to Tennessee, he changed his Twitter profile picture to the joker. He went out of his way to tell Tennessee outlet Rocky Top Insider that he doesn't care about "that black and gold" and bleeds orange in the moments following his commitment. Say what you will about Carey, but he’s been the perfect villain up to this point. 
Surely Tennessee won’t let him speak publicly before he takes the floor on Saturday, but surely he would add to the spectacle if he did. He knows what he’s done–he appeared to do it intentionally–and he likely knows that it’s the best thing that’s happened to this rivalry since Vanderbilt made it competitive again. 
Carey is a generally introverted, polite person when he’s not around this. Carey's parents, raised the former Vanderbilt forward in the church–which he says still impacts him. They taught him, his sister and his brother Vernon Jr.— a former Duke center and NBA player– how to be professionals and how to present themselves, too. He says his most consistent activities include listening to music, calling his parents and watching movies. 
That version of Carey won’t be all that visible on Saturday, though. Vanderbilt assistant coach Xavier Joyner told me last year that Carey turns into an animal on the court and that his intensity reminded him of Kevin Garnett. Joyner also said that Carey was “fearless” and had “the heart of a lion.” 
"Just like a gladiator," Carey said when I asked him to describe himself and his mentality a season ago, "When I get in those lines I kinda enter a dark space and want to win. When you don't win, people don't like it. "
Spoiler alert; most of the gym will be happy on Saturday if Carey doesn’t win. If Vanderbilt wins its rivalry matchup, in fact, there will be a sect of its fanbase that is more happy that Carey lost than that Vanderbilt won. That’s how you know this is going to be spicy. 
Time for the gladiator to duke it out with all eyes on him.
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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