Vanderbilt football’s first 10-win season wasn’t satisfying.
The Commodores got a taste of success, but they didn’t qualify for the College Football Playoff or win the SEC. Going forward, that will be the bar.
“The biggest thing we had a really good season last year, but we didn’t finish,” safeties coach Melvin Rice said. “So … to have such a successful season, not getting a ring at the end. That’s our motivation. So when those guys came back in the building, we just wanted to attack every day.”
Vanderbilt no longer has Diego Pavia, the Heisman runner-up, or potential high-round draft pick Eli Stowers. But it does have Jared Curtis, the 5-star recruit who is the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country. He is competing for the starting job with returner Blake Berlowitz.
The Commodores last season won 10 games and beat Tennessee in Knoxville, but they lost in the regular season to the two playoff teams they faced in Alabama and Texas.
“We just want more,” safety Jailen Ruth said. “We had a good season last year at 10-2, but we want more. We want to be in the playoffs. We want to be able to have a chance to play for a national title, and we just want to keep going.”
Ruth entered the transfer portal during the offseason but opted instead to return, feeling like the opportunity at Vanderbilt was too good to pass up.
While Pavia, the first player to openly profess belief that the Commodores could win a national championship, is gone, the culture he created through setting his standards high has remained. Clark Lea has remained a constant throughout it all, hoping to make good on his statement from 2022 SEC Media Days that Vanderbilt would in time be the best program in the country.
“The vision for this place, the relatedness of the team (Lea) wanted to be a part of and lead, has always been the same,” nickels coach Arion Shinaver said. “I think the buy-in each year, though, has changed, and you see the success as a result of that.”
Shinaver has been part of the staff since 2022, starting as a scouting intern, but this is his first year as a full position coach. He is hungry to prove himself as well. The safeties room is much more experienced than a year ago, bringing back Dontae Carter, Carson Lawrence and CJ Heard as well as bringing in Clemson transfer Ricardo Jones. According to Rice, redshirt freshman Davin Chandler has also been a standout.
Lawrence is at a new position now, having moved to the “star” hybrid linebacker/safety position after the departure of Randon Fontenette, who transferred to Colorado.
Lawrence is buying into that new role. He, too, is hungry to prove that Vanderbilt isn’t just a one-year wonder.
“Just because we won 10 games last year doesn’t mean anything this year,” Lawrence said. “We’re looking to do more than that this year, so we’ve just got to stay hungry.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
