With Eli Stowers gone from Vanderbilt football, Cole Spence next in line – The Tennessean

Vanderbilt football tight end Cole Spence knows what it’s like to feel forgotten.
Playing behind Eli Stowers, who is projected to be a second-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, can have that effect.
So it was no surprise that, while taking roll of every seemingly every tight end on the Commodores‘ roster after their spring practice March 21, Cole caught himself before he did the same to Maurice Veney.
He’d mentioned Jayvontay Conner.
“Hilarious dude.”
Walter Taylor, too.
“He’s gotten massive.”
And Tilden Riley and Adam Gehm.
“Two younger guys. Both really smart, both working really hard.”
“Who am I forgetting?” Spence asked himself.
Then it dawned on him.
“Oh, Mo. Sorry. I hope Mo doesn’t watch this,” Spence said with a laugh. “He’s an amazing dude coming from Army.”
Of all those names, though, Spence’s is at the top of the list to step into Stowers’ role.
Spence, a 6-foot-7, 255-pounder from Roswell, Georgia, had 15 catches for 233 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games for the Commodores last season. He had 12 catches for 101 yards and a pair or scores the year before.
Though his primary responsibilities involve blocking, a responsibility he relishes, he joked that he doesn’t feel very seen outside the Commodores’ sideline when he does score a touchdown.
“That’s how you get on the field,” Spence said when asked about doing the “dirty work.” “That’s our job.
“(But) y’all saw last year when I got a pop pass for a touchdown … everybody thinks I’m blocking. We take a lot of pride in that, and that’s where we want to win. We want to run to win and throw to score.”
The throwing to score will be coming from a different arm than the last two seasons, when 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist Diego Pavia was the quarterback.
Now the Commodores likely will be receiving most of their passes from freshman five-star quarterback Jared Curtis.
“It’s all about establishing that run game first,” Spence said. “Especially with two new quarterbacks. You need to have a run game going in order to loosen up the defense.”
While Cole isn’t the prospect Stowers was, offensive coordinator Tim Beck likes the prospect watching the graduate student graduate into a bigger role.
“I think Cole will have a great year,” Beck said. “I thought he had a really good year last year as well.
“He does a lot of different things for us than what Eli does. But we love using out tight ends in our offense, so that’s a huge thing.”
And a good thing in Cole’s eyes
For now, though, his eyes on are on the now.
About getting more routes and more targets and, of course, blocking more for running backs such as Sedrick Alexander and Makhilyn Young, among others.
“Wherever Coach Beck puts me, I’m going to play,” Spence said. “I’m focusing on just having a lower pad level and a better strike.”
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.

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