Vanderbilt’s defense enters fall camp with a handful of real questions and a few names that could shape the entire season.
The biggest one might be Issa Outtara. The German import has been around since signing and arriving on campus in 2022, and the buzz around him has never really gone away.
The production has been solid, if not flashy: 48 career tackles, 6 1/2 tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks. Still, Phil Steele put him on his preseason third-team All-Southeastern Conference list, which tells you there’s a belief that the best is still ahead.
Outtara’s strongest season came in 2024, when he made 31 tackles, including one in the bowl game against Georgia Tech. Last year never really gave Vanderbilt a chance to find out whether he was ready to take another step.
He missed much of August and was limited to just a handful of snaps in one game, against Virginia Tech, because of injury. Then he sat out spring practice, too.
That makes this camp the first meaningful look at him in quite a while. At 6-foot-7 and 315 pounds, he has the kind of frame that can change the feel of a defensive front if he plays the way the staff expects.
The pass rush is another area worth tracking closely. Vanderbilt was decent at getting after quarterbacks last season, finishing with 31 sacks in 13 games, but it wasn’t a group that consistently overwhelmed opponents.
So the portal brought in help, including edge players CJ Jackson from LSU, Edwin Kolenge from Boston College and Brian Allen Jr. from Purdue. Jackson was hurt in the spring, so his role for this year is still up in the air.
Allen has 3 1/2 career sacks, Kolenge has three, and Jackson had a half-sack in six games over two years at LSU.
Miles Capers is the name that stands out most in that group. He produced 4 1/2 of his 8 1/2 career sacks last season, then sat out spring practice to protect his health. How he looks coming back will matter a lot.
There are also several other edge options in the mix: fall enrollee Myles Miller, a JUCO transfer from Northwest Mississippi; freshman Jace McCallum; and returnees Jake Stanish and Mason Carter. Coming out of spring, Carter looked like the best bet among those options to help this fall. Simeon Boulware and Hayden Bray were listed as edge players in the spring, but they’re now listed as defensive linemen.
Vanderbilt can create pressure from the second level, too. Nick Rinaldi had 3 1/2 sacks last season, while Bryce Cowan finished with three and tied for third and fifth on the team, respectively, a year ago. Cowan has a reputation for making impact plays, and he could end up being even more important here.
Another storyline centers on whether the Commodores become more dangerous in the secondary. Vanderbilt was not happy with eight interceptions last season, and that number made sense given the lack of elite pressure up front and the fact that this defense has not always been as aggressive on the ball as it was in 2021 under Jesse Minter. Hight, who accounted for half the team’s interceptions, can’t really be blamed for that total.
The addition of safety Ricardo Jones changes the conversation. He led the Atlantic Coast Conference with six interceptions last season and showed that same ball-hawking ability this spring. He looks like a strong candidate to lead the team in picks this fall.
If the secondary piles up interceptions in August, that will naturally raise questions about the quarterbacks. What matters most, though, is the approach: whether Vanderbilt can stay alert for tipped balls and bad throws and actually finish those chances.
At corner, the starting picture looks mostly settled, with Hight expected to start and Jordan Matthews likely alongside him. But Cayden Daniels, now a rising sophomore, was one of the team’s most improved players this spring, and Texas A&M transfer Cobey Sellers also looked like a smart addition. Even if those two don’t force a change at the top of the depth chart, their growth could give Vanderbilt more flexibility with its starters and help it plan for the eventual departure of Hight and Matthews, both seniors.
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Vanderbilt Is Finally Closing In On A Quarterback Decision
Vanderbilt is getting closer to a decision at the games most important position, with Clark Lea saying the quarterback reps are now being directed toward finding a starter rather than simply developing the group. As preseason work continues, the Commodores are treating the coming days as a real evaluation period, and the first scrimmage is expected to carry major weight in how the staff sorts through the depth chart.
The battle still includes four quarterbacks, but the conversation has naturally started to narrow around the more prominent candidates, with freshman Jared Curtis and veteran Blaze Berlowitz drawing the most attention while Jack Elliott and Whit Muschamp remain in the mix. For a team trying to settle its offense before the season arrives, the next stretch of camp is less about experimentation and more about forcing clarity, even if the final answer is still a few practices away. [Read more 🡒]
Clark Lea Sees A Big Vanderbilt Benefit In NCAA Eligibility Change
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For coaches, the rule cuts down on the kind of year-to-year bookkeeping that has long complicated depth charts, especially the need to track redshirt status and participation limits. It also comes as the NCAA continues to sort through another eligibility question, after a Colorado judge ruled that players from the 2022 class have a fifth season available to them, pending the associations final decision. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilts Tennessee Opportunity May Come Down To One Vols Weakness
The build-up to this rivalry game has turned into a true freshman quarterbacks spotlight, with Vanderbilt and Tennessee both leaning into new faces as they prepare for the next chapter of one of the SECs sharpest in-state meetings. Tennessee has spent the offseason reshaping its defense, bringing in Jim Knowles as coordinator and adding new personnel, while Vanderbilts own path to an edge may come through a defense that has to hold up against a more experienced, better-stocked opponent.
For Vanderbilt, the appeal is obvious: if the game stays tight, home-field pressure can matter, and the Commodores have reason to believe this one could live in that range. The Vols have changed enough on one side of the ball to make the matchup harder to sort out than it looked a few months ago, but there is still a sense that one area of Tennessees defense could leave an opening. If Vanderbilt can make the right plays at the right time, the door to a home upset stays open deep into this one. [Read more 🡒]