Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner is picking up national buzz before the season even tips, and Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook has put him on its preseason First-Team All-American list.
The recognition comes after Tanner put together a huge 2025-26 season for the Commodores, averaging 19.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game while committing just 1.9 turnovers. He shot 48.5% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range, and he finished as Vanderbilt’s leading scorer.
His rise also carried him into NBA Draft conversation once Vanderbilt started conference play, but Tanner chose to pull his name from the draft and come back to Nashville.
“Tyler Tanner will be the engine of one of the top teams in the SEC, which also means one of the top teams in the nation,” Blue Ribbon publisher Chris Dortch told Vandy on SI. “He’s an exceptional two-way player who values ball security but is also great at making steals. He’s become a confident scorer, too.”
Tanner is one of five players featured on Blue Ribbon’s cover, joining Florida wing Thomas Haugh, UConn guard Braylon Mullins, Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears and BYU guard Robert Wright III.
Blue Ribbon bills itself as a season-long college basketball guide that coaches, NCAA tournament selection committee members, broadcasters and NBA scouts use throughout the year. The magazine is available for preorder, with digital copies set to release in September and physical copies shipping in October.
Blue Ribbon is among the first national outlets to name Tanner a preseason All-American, and it may not be the last. Dortch said Tanner is Vanderbilt’s first preseason All-American in Blue Ribbon since at least the Kevin Stallings era.
"He's gonna get a lot of attention, and it will not change him one bit," Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington told Vandy on SI. "He will not feel any kind of pressure, and he really won't react to it.
That's who he is, his upbringing and what he's about. But everything that he gets is deserving of because of how he played last year."
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