Vanderbilt’s edge room is one of the more established spots on the 2026 roster, and that matters in a game that keeps asking defensive ends to do more and more. The Commodores have veterans, new additions and a freshman in the mix, but the headliner is still the same: Miles Capers.
Capers is back for his sixth season and remains the clear anchor of the group. He has already put together a productive career, but he’s chasing bigger numbers now. This summer, Capers laid out exactly what he wants to accomplish.
“I really want to be All-SEC. I got some records I want to break here and some records I want to break in the NCAA.
But that’s really me. I want to be All-American and get drafted,” Capers told Vandy On SI this summer.
“I want to break the sack record at Vandy and the forced fumble record.”
He enters the season with 8.5 career sacks, including a career-best 4.5 last year. That’s a strong baseline, but Capers clearly sees a much bigger ceiling for himself. If he gets anywhere near the production he’s talking about, Vanderbilt’s front seven is going to be a problem.
The staff’s confidence in Capers goes beyond what he does on Saturdays. Defensive ends coach Adam Morris pointed to the way he carries himself as a standard for the room.
“He really embodies everything that we want our players to embody, from an academic perspective to a way he carries himself when he's not in the building, just when he's around campus,” Morris told Vandy on SI.
Behind Capers, Vanderbilt added a couple of experienced pieces who should matter right away. Brian Allen Jr. came over from Iowa after spending the 2025 season in the Big Ten, and he even sacked former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia in the 2025 ReliaQuest Bowl. Now he’s on the other side of that memory, expected to play a major role in black and gold.
Morris said Allen Jr. brings value in more than one phase.
“I think where he’s been most impactful is that he’s done both at a high level,” Morris told Vandy On SI. “It’s easy to say he’s going to help us rushing or he’s going to help us another way.
I really think it’s both. Like, he’s experienced.”
Vanderbilt also brought in former Boston College EDGE Edwin Kolenge, giving the room another veteran body. And then there’s freshman Jace McCallum, part of a group that is still settling into a new defensive system.
That adjustment has been a focus in the offseason, especially with so many new faces around Capers. Morris said the early signs have been encouraging.
“I think it’s just confidence in the scheme,” Morris told Vandy On SI. “Other than Cape [Capers], a lot of the room is either a new face or a player in development, so that’s where I would say the biggest changes come.”
Mason Carter is another name Vanderbilt expects to lean on more heavily. Entering his third season, Carter played in all 13 games in 2025 and finished with three tackles. The staff believes there’s more there now after a physical offseason.
Morris said Carter looks like a different player.
“He looks like a completely different human being than he did when he first got here, and I think you're seeing that physical confidence in the way that he plays,” Morris said. “We're very excited about Mason. He is smart, he works really hard, kind of in the mold of Cape [Capers] from a personality standpoint, but certainly excited for his contributions this year.”
That depth will matter. Capers is the leader, Allen Jr. brings experience, Carter is trending up and Kolenge adds another option. For a Vanderbilt defense trying to get into opposing backfields, that’s a solid place to start.
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