NASHVILLE-Bryce Cowan is stepping into a bigger lane at Vanderbilt, and the linebacker sounds like a player who knows the opportunity has finally arrived.
After years of waiting, grinding and flashing in bursts, Cowan is positioned for a far larger role in 2026 with former standout Langston Patterson now graduated. That opens up reps in the linebacker room, and Cowan looks like the obvious candidate to claim them if he continues on the track Vanderbilt believes he’s on.
That belief comes from more than just potential. Cowan’s 2025 season was the best of his career, with 278 defensive snaps, a team-high five forced fumbles, three sacks and 30 tackles.
Still, for all the production, Vanderbilt hasn’t viewed that as the finished product. Linebackers coach Nick Lezynski, who said he had spoken extensively with an NFL scout before meeting the media on Thursday, sees Cowan as someone with pro-level traits and room left to grow.
“He’s been battling for four years to become a pro before he’s a pro,” Lezynski said. “Now he's asking the questions of the next level.
Like ‘Hey, what does this guy have around me? "Hey, where's the safety rotating here?
Hey, when they're in this set right now, I know that the offense is gonna do this.’ It's like ‘me, what I do, then it's us.
What are we doing as a defense? And then the next level is, what are they doing as an offense?’
He has hit all those three boxes. I think the best measure of how you can tell a guy is developing is when they start to coach the other players.
So he's now coaching our younger guys.”
That development has been a long time coming. Cowan’s career has been defined by the big moments he’s delivered - against Auburn in 2023, Kentucky in 2024 and Tennessee in 2025 - but also by the search for something steadier. Vanderbilt has been waiting for those splash plays to turn into week-to-week impact.
Longwell said Cowan’s effort has been impossible to miss.
“Bryce, he’s such a master of his craft,” Longwell said. “He tries so hard all the time and it's really fun to watch. Like, I feel like he motivates all of us, 'cause no matter what he's doing, he's trying hard, he's running to the ball, he's working hard and I feel like that’s helped him improve his game as he's gone.”
Longwell also pointed to a pattern from earlier in Cowan’s career: when he was in line for a consistent impact, he would wear down and his play would dip. Lezynski said part of the issue was that Cowan’s pad level was too high, which limited his power as a tackler. But at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, Vanderbilt sees a defender with length, athleticism, physicality and a professional mindset - the kind of combination that can keep paying off if the rest of the game keeps catching up.
Cowan’s own words matched the way he’s carrying himself now. A year ago, he had admitted he felt “kind of slow” after adding 15 pounds in the offseason and even considered trimming about five pounds before the season to get some speed back. This camp, he said the difference has been obvious.
“I’m definitely more consistent,” Cowan said in regard to his practice performance this camp relative to last camp. “That’s the main thing for me, just staying consistent in all aspects-off the field and on the field.”
That consistency matters now more than ever. Cowan says the patience has been part of the process, and he’s not pretending it came easy.
“Just staying down until your time comes, that's what I did,” Cowan said. “I just never gave up, I kept going, even when times was bad, even when I knew I wasn't going to get as many reps I always kept going.”
Vanderbilt’s younger linebackers Broxton, Curtis and Howard are still in the stage Cowan used to occupy, making plays in practice without the same steady game-day workload. Cowan can relate to that. The difference now is that his own turn appears to be here.
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