Vanderbilt Football Notebook: Nick Rinaldi's Focus, Thomas' Standout Play, Berlowitz' Development – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE—Whenever Nick Rinaldi walks into Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center each morning, he knows what he’s signing up for. 
That hasn’t always been the case for Rinaldi, who joined Vanderbilt in 2022 as a football novice with a body that Vanderbilt’s staff projected could project to the next level. There was a time when Rinaldi didn’t know what to expect and where his reps would be distributed every time he took the practice field, but he’s found a consistent role at linebacker these days. 
As Rinaldi took the podium after Vanderbilt’s Saturday scrimmage, he didn’t take that for granted. 
“I used to be a razor a little bit of STAR-like all around,” Rinaldi said,
”But I appreciate now that I feel like they've gotten a sense of my traits and what I'm good at, and where they can use me best. And so I've started to understand that more as well. In practice paying attention to parts of my game that I can get better at, whether that's block disruption, tackling.” 
Now that Rinaldi has found his position, there’s some within Vanderbilt’s program that believe he can be an NFL player by the time this all ends for him. If 2025 was an indicator, Rinaldi isn’t quite there but has a chance to chase that dream after a season in which he racked up 47 total tackles, including a career-best seven behind the line of scrimmage, 3.5 sacks and a team-leading nine quarterback hurries. 
On a roster of veterans, Rinaldi appears to be as confident in his role and duties as anyone on Vanderbilt’s roster. 
“He loves it now,” Vanderbilt linebackers coach Nick Lezynski said. “So that’s been really cool to see because he’s watching more tape than I’m watching. He’s coaching the younger players now, so he’s become a voice and an extension of the coaches and that’s been the cool part to see about him.” 
Ja’Cory Thomas stands out again on Saturday
Only a few Vanderbilt players were mentioned in Clark Lea’s opening statement on Saturday, but Thomas made the cut. Lea appeared to like what he saw from Thomas as he caught multiple balls and got behind Vanderbilt’s corners a few times. 
Thomas had a relatively lackluster spring, but told Vandy on SI that he was slowed down by a hamstring injury. Saturday he indicated that he’s as healthy as he’s been since arriving at Vanderbilt. That shows. 
“I’ve been progressing pretty good,” Thomas said. “I feel like my performance today was pretty good. I play receiver, so I just always want to be open for my quarterback, just to make plays for my team.”
Blaze Berlowitz’ improvement
Say what you will about Vanderbilt’s quarterback competition, but Berlowitz has gotten significantly better than he was this time a year ago and hasn’t been pushed out of the way by Jared Curtis. 
That means something. 
“I'm really proud of the camp Blaze has put together,” Lea said. “ I think even coming from spring, I thought he had a really good summer and part of his strength is in system awareness and really best positioning the 11 guys on the field. That is a part of his advantage, right? His edge. He's done that without making mistakes with the ball on the whole.”
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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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