Vanderbilt Football Fall Camp Defensive Superlatives – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt football is now fully in preparation mode for the kickoff of its 2026 season, where it will take on Austin Peay under the light of FirstBank Stadium on Sept. 5.
The Commodores just finished up their fall camp Saturday night after a few weeks of practicing and honing in on their craft. Defensively, Vanderbilt learned that it may have its best defensive unit under head coach Clark Lea.
There is only one way to see if that rings true, though. And that would be to execute in 12 games over the next three months. With fall camp now over, it is time to take a look back at camp and hand some defensive awards to the players that stood out the most.
Vanderbilt cornerback Cayden Daniels wins the defensive fall camp Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award for his performance throughout the first three weeks of August.
Daniels, the sophomore from Cordele, Georgia, was flying around the back end of the defense and making plays constantly throughout fall camp. Daniels' play in coverage, especially toward the sidelines, is what made him stand out.
Daniels played sticky coverage over the course of camp and found himself around the ball quite a bit, even making splash plays often as well. But perhaps most importantly is what Daniels’ performance in camp means for the Vanderbilt defense as a whole.
Because Daniels looked much improved from his freshman season and because of what he was doing each practice, Daniels made the cornerback room for Vanderbilt stronger. Vanderbilt had a solid cornerback duo between Martel Hight and Jordan Matthews coming into camp, but Daniels showed that he can be a reliable defender when Hight or Matthews need a breather in a game.
“First off, the technique is showing up play after play. Sometimes we get into these long drives, it’s easy especially in the heat to start losing your technique. But I think he’s consistent there. He’s consistent in his assignments. Then last thing, he’s been making plays. He’s a playmaker, which got me really, really excited,” Vanderbilt cornerbacks coach Jamaal Richardson said during camp of Daniels’ performance.
Daniels mindset has changed in a positive direction and he is practiced with confidence. It is almost time to see if he can take that into the regular season.
Vanderbilt EDGE and Boston College transfer Edwin Kolenge was the most improved player on Vanderbilt’s defense during fall camp. The defensive most improved player goes to the player on defense that showed the best growth from spring ball to fall camp.
Kolenge was one of the standout guys on the Vanderbilt defensive front. One of the newest faces to the roster looked much better than how he did during the spring. His get off in pass rush was much sharper and the moves he put on offensive linemen looked better compared to the spring as well.
Vanderbilt has two guys in Miles Capers and Brian Allen Jr. that are more than likely going to lead the EDGE room this season, but Kolenge showed that he is very deserving to be the next in line in that room.
“He’s got a motor,” Vanderbilt defensive ends coach Adam Morris said. “I think he is probably as natural an edge player, an edge rusher as we have. There might be guys who have more natural physical tools. I don’t know if you’re going to find a better pure football player than Edwin Kolenge.”
If Kolenge is able to build momentum off his growth from August, he could maybe wreak a little more havoc than people may have thought earlier in the offseason.
Jaylon Stone: The interior defensive lineman was another standout from fall camp. Where he grew the most is the push he was getting in the trenches and the conviction he was rushing with. He did a really nice job of showing he has leveled up as a run stopper and will look to take that into the season.
Ricardo Jones: It took safety Clemson transfer Ricardo Jones to get going in fall camp, but once he did it felt like an avalanche of plays he was making. Jones prides himself as being a communicator on defense and he played the part. Toward the final few days of camp, Jones was making big plays all around the field. Vanderbilt is going to rely on him plenty this season.
Dontae Carter: Another guy that was off to a bit of a slow start in fall camp, but turned a corner about halfway through. Carter may not have been making big plays in practice at the start, but he did look improved on the fundamentals. That ended up translating to big plays that he would later make in the back half of camp. By the end of camp. Carter established himself as a top three guy in the safety room.
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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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