What Vanderbilt Football’s 2027 Class Says About the Program – Sports Illustrated

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When the era of name, image and likeness (NIL) became mainstream in college sports, there were two different theories on how the landscape of college sports would change. Either the teams that were at the top of their respective sports were going to widen the gap between the top and middle teams, or the introduction of NIL would end up leveling the playing field.
Over the past few seasons, the latter theory has turned out to be the correct one. From college football to college basketball, the parity across the sports has increased and many programs have benefitted from today’s era of paying players. One of those teams is Vanderbilt.
In football, the Commodores have had a meteoric rise to relevancy in the national conversation of college football. The days of Vanderbilt being 2-10 are seemingly over, at least for now. Rather, Vanderbilt has turned into a program that can stay competitive with some of the toughest teams in the SEC.
And now, the trickle down effect of success has seeped into the Commodores’ recruiting classes.
Vanderbilt’s 2027 football class may only be nine players deep currently, but it already features multiple four-stars and plenty of three-star recruits. Players that Vanderbilt fans could not have dreamed of getting even a few years ago. But it is happening now.
So, what does that say about Vanderbilt football as a program in today’s world of college football?
While Vanderbilt's class and its current roster shows that it can compete financially in the NIL world, its 2027 class says much more about the program.
Most of all, Vanderbilt’s next class shows that this program is a desired destination. High school recruits, notably high-caliber recruits, want to play collegiately in Nashville for the Vanderbilt Commodores. It says a lot when a program goes from a place that was thought of as an afterthought for so many years to a place that game-changing players want to go to.
And to top it off, that transformation has happened in almost record time. Vanderbilt was 2-10 during the 2023 season but went 7-6 in 2024 before having a program-record 10-3 season in 2025.
Vanderbilt was able to flip five-star quarterback Jared Curtis ahead of his freshman year this fall. Perhaps Curtis’ flip was the commitment that truly broke things open for Vanderbilt football in terms of its success at recruiting. 
The class after it landed its highest-rated recruit in program history, Vanderbilt landed its second-highest recruit ever with four-star safety Omarii Sanders from Franklin Road Academy in Nashville. Additionally, the Commodores received another four-star commit with offensive tackle Jasper Ngokwere a few days ago.
“The energy in the room and how connected everyone was, it just felt different,” Sanders told Vandy On SI on his experience sitting in on a Vanderbilt football team meeting, which ultimately led to his decision to stick with the Commodores.
The source behind the reason why Vanderbilt football has become a desired place for recruits all goes back to Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea. Lea has implemented a vision of hard work, embracing the underdog mentality and has created a winning culture because of it.
After all, Lea is the one that was able to bring in the guys that he felt best fit his vision to push the program forward. The results may not have started to show up until the 2024 season, but Vanderbilt has been on a seemingly constantly upward trajectory ever since. The 2027 recruiting class is just another example of the evolution of Vanderbilt.
It is safe to assume that Lea and his coaching staff are not done building their 2027 class. It is also a safe bet that Vanderbilt will do what it can to make more recruiting splashes in an effort to build a deep roster going forward.
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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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