Vanderbilt’s rise under Clark Lea has been built on a lot of things, but Tuesday brought a clear admission from the head coach: the program had to get smarter about how it used NIL money if it wanted to keep climbing.
Lea said Vanderbilt initially treated NIL mostly as a way to keep its own players from leaving, especially after the heavy roster turnover that followed the 2023 season. That approach changed once the staff realized it needed NIL to help bring players in, not just hold onto the ones already in the building.
“You don't have a program without NIL, and when you try to recruit, if you're not competitive in those conversations, you've really put yourself behind the eight ball,” Lea said. “It just is what it is. So we've had to continue to expand the way we see and where we see the needs of NIL.”
That evolution matters because Vanderbilt’s biggest breakthrough came through the transfer portal, most notably with the class that helped fuel the 2024 season. Lea said that run, and the program’s rise overall, would not have happened without Pavia or NIL. But he also made it clear that the next step requires more than portal shopping.
Now, Vanderbilt says its compensation model covers three lanes: retention, transfer additions and high school recruiting. That shift showed up in a major way on signing day a season ago, when the Commodores flipped five-star quarterback Jared Curtis from Georgia and three-star receiver Owen Cabell from Alabama.
“Vanderbilt football needs to be about a foundational class and a foundational experience,” Lea said. “The more we can have players in our program for five years, the less that we have to explain who we are year in and year out to our team.
So, I’m excited about where this class is. I’m excited about where it’s headed and I think high school recruiting is going to remain an important part of the program build.”
That’s a notable change for a program that helped build its 10-win season - the best in school history - by identifying and developing under-the-radar high school talent. Players like Sedrick Alexander, Bryan Longwell, Nick Rinaldi, Martel Hight and Junior Sherrill became key pieces without Vanderbilt needing to win a bunch of headline-grabbing recruiting battles.
The difference now is that the Commodores believe they can do both. They still expect to win with conviction evaluations, but the increased investment in high school recruiting gives them a better chance to land higher-end talent at the top of classes.
The early returns are real. Over the last two cycles, Vanderbilt has signed the two highest-rated high school commitments in program history, based on the recruiting rankings era, and five of its top 20 recruits overall.
Lea also brought in four four-star prospects in the 2027 class for the first time in his tenure. If the cycle ended today, Vanderbilt’s class would sit at No. 31 nationally, which would be more than 10 spots better than any class Lea has signed so far.
For Sherrill, that momentum is easy to feel.
“We have a good reputation right now,” Sherrill-who committed to the program as a three-star, class of 2023 prospect-said, “And I know people that want to be a part of this, what we’ve got going on.”
In Other News...
Diego Pavia Just Hit An Early NFL Reality Check
Diego Pavias first NFL stop ended almost as quickly as it began, with Baltimore waiving the former Vanderbilt quarterback to create room on the roster. Pavia had signed a three-year deal after the 2026 NFL Draft and was trying to carve out the Ravens No. 3 quarterback job, a familiar kind of uphill climb for a player whose college rise at Vanderbilt made him one of the more intriguing names in the class.
Pavia arrived in the league after leading the Commodores to a program-best 10 wins, but the NFL has already reminded him how much harder the next step can be. Even after a breakthrough season that put him on the Heisman Trophy stage, he went undrafted, and his 5-foot-9 frame has been part of the reason teams have hesitated early. Baltimores move leaves his next opportunity unresolved, but the path back is likely to be just as demanding as the one that got him here. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Opens SEC Play Facing One Problem Auburn Will Exploit
Vanderbilts SEC opener arrives with no easing into the schedule, as the Commodores head to Auburn on Sept. 26 to launch a nine-game conference slate. It is also a matchup that comes with plenty of new faces on both sides, including a Vanderbilt offense trying to settle into a new identity and an Auburn program now under first-year coach Alex Golesh.
The Tigers have rebuilt around a revamped roster, with Byrum Brown stepping in at quarterback and help arriving at receiver from South Florida in Keshaun Singleton and Jeremiah Koger. For Vanderbilt, the bigger concern is simply how quickly the offense can find its footing on the road against a team that looks built to pressure a group still sorting itself out. [Read more 🡒]