2022 Season Preview: Vanderbilt Commodores

Stoney Keeley takes a look at the state of the Commodores in his 2022 Vanderbilt preview.

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Over the course of the next several weeks, the SoBros Network crew will be going around the landscape of the SEC, team by team, previewing the upcoming American tackle football season. Up next, our 2022 Vanderbilt preview!

2022 Vanderbilt Preview

There’s no real beating around the bush, y’all. Stock in the Vanderbilt Commodores is rock bottom at this point. The 2021 season yielded just two wins for Vandy – a three-point win at Colorado State, and a two-point win over a UConn team that probably would’ve lost to some high school teams. They were blanked 62-0 by Georgia, and 42-0 by a middling Florida team. They lost to ETSU. Yeah…..not good, ‘Dores fans. Not good. I liked the hiring of Clark Lea last offseason, and to be fair, he did inherit a hot mess. Lea has a long way to go, and there is a myriad of questions that need answers on both sides of the ball before this Commodores program can even begin to think about climbing the ladder in the SEC East.

Vandy’s offense averaged a putrid 15.5 points per game in 2021 – they only hit 30 points scored once, and that was against UConn. The big question for this offense is just about the biggest question you can have on offense – who’s going to play quarterback? Ken Seals was thought to be “the guy” heading into 2021, but this unit seemed to perform better with Mike Wright at the helm. Maybe if you could put the best attributes of each guy into one body, you’d be alright – but science will likely not advance that far in the time remaining before the season starts. Regardless of who the signal caller is, there are some interesting skill position players on offense heading into the season between wide receiver Will Sheppard and tight end Ben Bresnahan. The key cog could be running back Re’Mahn Davis, but it might not matter if Vandy can’t work out its offensive line issues. Tyler Steen is at Alabama now, leaving the team without a “franchise” tackle to build the unit around. It looks like there is going to be a major feeling-out process for this offense in 2022. To call it a work in progress would be an understatement.

If there’s any hope for 2022, that’s generated by the ‘Dores defense. It’s a more experienced group led by senior linebacker Anfernee Orji. Vandy247 considers Orji the best player on this entire team. He’s the only guy that, right now, is starting to garner some serious NFL buzz. Behind him, there’s a pair of solid defensive backs in UConn transfer Jeremy Lucien and senior Jaylen Mahoney. Factor in the stout defensive lineman in senior Malik Langham, and Vanderbilt has quality experience at each level of the defense. There is some real potential among this group, and it’s a unit that should be the unquestioned strength of the team. They may be asked to carry the offense this season a bit, but if they can, they could yield a much better record in 2022 than they saw in 2021.

2022 Commodores Schedule

Saturday, 8/27: @ Hawaii – The Rainbow Warriors were a halfway decent team in 2021, and the fact that Vanderbilt has to travel for this one is a bit concerning. However, Hawaii is in a bit of a rebuild of its own and has a lot of personnel issues to sort out. This one should be a relatively easy win for a more experienced Vanderbilt squad.

Saturday, 9/3: vs. Elon – I’d say every SEC team needs their tune-up “preseason game,” but hell, Vanderbilt lost to ETSU last season, so…

Saturday, 9/10: vs. Wake ForestSam Hartman is back for Wake Forest, and I just don’t see how Vanderbilt’s offense is going to be able to score points with the Demon Deacons.

Saturday, 9/17: @ Northern Illinois – This is a game that Vanderbilt should win, but it’s on the road against an established program and the defending MAC Champions. Watch out.

Saturday, 9/24: @ Alabama – NOPE.

Saturday, 10/1: BYE

Saturday, 10/8: vs. Ole Miss – Like Wake Forest, this is another high powered offense coming to town. And, my issue with teams like this is that I just don’t know that Vanderbilt is going to have the offensive output to hang with these teams on the scoreboard. Ole Miss has some turnover at quarterback, and I wouldn’t be surprised for this to be closer than expected, but in the end, can you trust Vanderbilt to post at least 35? I don’t know.

Saturday, 10/15: @ Georgia – Sorry, ‘Dores fans…another NOPE.

Saturday, 10/22: @ Missouri – This one could be a winnable game for Vanderbilt, as the Tigers will endure turnover at quarterback, and they lost Tyler Badie to the NFL. But, there’s still a lot of offensive talent there that makes me think “potential shootout.” Drawing this one on the road hurts, as it looks like this could be the game that snaps Vandy’s losing streak – but that’s harder to pull off in Columbia.

Saturday, 10/29: BYE

Saturday, 11/5: vs. South Carolina – If they can’t get that streak snapped at Mizzou, maybe they can pull it off hosting South Carolina. I’m a big fan of Shane Beamer, but let’s be real – they had some tight wins last season, and looked pretty damn putrid at times in their own right. Stock is up on the Gamecocks program, but don’t let it fool you – this one’s winnable for Vandy.

Saturday, 11/12: @ Kentucky – Whether or not you believe Will Levis to be a legitimate Heisman candidate and future NFL first round draft pick, this Wildcats team still has one of the higher floors in the SEC East. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them contending for the East’s spot in Atlanta and think it would be a miracle upset if Vandy was to pull this one off.

Saturday, 11/19: vs. Florida – I’m not as high on Anthony Richardson and the Gators as some are, so I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to see this one end up closer than expected, but I just feel like the talent gap between these two teams is too wide for Vanderbilt to overcome.

Saturday, 11/26: vs. Tennessee – See Wake Forest and Ole Miss.

Predictions

The flip side of all this negative Vanderbilt talk – if stock is at a rock bottom, now’s the time to buy in. I still like Clark Lea an awful lot. I don’t know that words can describe how utterly barren the roster was when he took over – long term, it might be hard for Vanderbilt, as a program, to make waves in the NIL world or the transfer portal. But, I don’t think they’re necessarily going to fail because of their coach. He’s got time to build. The best case scenario for this team is a bowl game – that feels lofty to say, but their defense could surprise some teams. They’d have to win three of Wake Forest, South Carolina, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Florida. I don’t see that happening (though I’ll acknowledge that I think it’s a little closer than people are giving Vandy credit for), so my official gun-to-my-head prediction is 4-8 with a surprise win at home against South Carolina on the resumé. That would be progress.

MORE 2022 SEC SEASON PREVIEWS

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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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