Vanderbilt Football Adds Three-Star Safety to 2027 Class – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt football continues to add players to its 2027 recruiting class.
Per a report from Rivals’ Adam Gorney, Vanderbilt received a commitment from three-star safety Dillon Davis out of Bellflower, California.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound safety is going into his senior season at St. John Bosco High School. Davis is ranked as the No. 42 player in the state of California and the No. 54 safety in the 2027 class, per 247Sports’ composite rankings. Nationally, Davis ranks 564th in his class.
Davis is the 10th player that Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea has gotten for next year’s class. Davis is technically the second safety commit Vanderbilt has. The other is four-star safety Omarii Sanders from Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. Sanders is listed as a linebacker on major recruiting sites, but told Vandy On SI that he will play safety for the Commodores.
Davis chose Vanderbilt over Arizona, UCLA, BYU and Boston College.
When watching Davis’ film, one of the first things that gets noticed is his read on the quarterback. In an array of highlights, Davis’ eyes and head are right on the quarterback, moving where the eyes of the quarterback are going.
As a result, his ability to read the quarterback opens up opportunities for him to either come up with interceptions or get pass deflections.
In other highlights, Davis shows that he is not afraid of the physical side of football. Davis seems to embrace the role of being an aggressor on defense by initiating contact with opposing offensive weapons. The downhill speed that he plays with also jumps off his high school film.
Vanderbilt has gotten commitments from players on both sides of the ball. The Commodores have six commitments from offensive players and now four commitments from defensive players with Davis’ decision.
All 10 of Vanderbilt’s commits for the 2027 class are three-stars or above. Lea and his program have continued to make statements each week this summer as more commitments roll in. The attitude and the perception of Vanderbilt has unquestionably changed and the Commodores’ class for next year is an extension of that perception change.
Davis is going to get to Vanderbilt at a time where safety depth will be a position of need going forward. The Commodores’ have veteran safeties with Ricardo Jones, CJ Heard and Jailen Ruth. Ruth is entering his senior season while Heard and Jones will be juniors this fall.
Maybe Davis could soon be a guy that Lea and his coaching staff look to for help in the future.
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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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