NASHVILLE - Bryan Longwell has made a brand out of the word most players would rather never hear. Around Vanderbilt, “misfit” isn’t an insult anymore. It’s a badge, a rallying cry, and in Longwell’s case, a perfect fit.
He even owns it with a grin.
“I am,” Longwell replied, laughing as if he’d been approached with the label too many times to count.
That comfort with the term comes from a recruiting path that never matched the player Longwell and the people around him believed he was. As a high schooler, he wanted the kind of attention that comes with a four-star label. Instead, his frame led most Power Five evaluators to see him as undersized, and the chase never really caught up to the belief.
Longwell wanted Auburn, too, but that door shut in a blunt way. A then-Tigers assistant coach texted him on Christmas morning to say the staff was no longer interested. He was treated as a regional recruit, and even after three seasons at Vanderbilt as a more than capable starter, he still hasn’t picked up national buzz.
That background is part of why Vanderbilt’s “misfit” identity landed so naturally with him. During a team bonding activity in the summer of 2025, Longwell looked around and saw teammates with similar stories - players who felt overlooked and counted out.
He said many of them wanted to go somewhere else for college football but never got the chance. That, he said, has become fuel.
Vanderbilt turned the word into a program slogan and then into a merch line, with Longwell as the face of it. It fits because his production has been easy to see even if the broader recognition hasn’t followed. He led Vanderbilt in tackles in 2024 and was No. 2 on the roster in 2025, yet he still hasn’t earned All-League honors as a Commodore.
“I feel like I haven’t got my flowers yet and I feel like I still need to prove more,” Longwell told Vandy on SI. “What drives me to this day still-even though I’ve achieved a lot and I’ve made great strides in college football and cemented a name for myself-I still feel like I haven’t done enough. I want to get more.”
The chip on his shoulder goes beyond the Auburn text or the recruiting rankings. Longwell has built his career on being told he can’t do things, and Vanderbilt has built its own rise on a similar edge. That connection has made him one of the most natural faces of the program’s identity.
The numbers back up his case, too. Among returning linebackers, Longwell ranks fifth in career tackles, sixth in career pass breakups and seventh in career interceptions.
He also has a season on his résumé in which he led the league in tackles for loss or no gain. Still, the label that has followed him most often is the one that reduces him to a high-volume tackler and a run defender first.
He wants to change that.
Longwell is aiming to show more pass-rushing ability, more impact on third downs, more turnovers and more plays on the football than he has produced before. He believes 2026 will give him that chance, and he expects to take more third-down snaps than at any point in his Vanderbilt career. He also says he wants to force more fumbles, break up more passes and finish more plays with the ball in his hands.
Clark Lea sees the same kind of player Vanderbilt has leaned on already.
“The defense has to do its part in improvement, you ask about the guys that we think could be kind of production leaders, obviously, you're going to talk about Bryan Longwell,” Lea said. “A guy that's been disruptive, has been a high-havoc player.”
Longwell’s path to that next step is helped by the opening left by Langston Patterson’s departure, which should create more reps for him. He’s already established himself as one of the five-best players on the team, and maybe more than anyone else in the program, he’s become a face of what Vanderbilt wants to be.
Even with all that, Longwell still talks like a player who hasn’t arrived yet.
“I feel like I’m ready to take that step, to carry a heavier burden on my shoulders,” Longwell said. “I have to. I have such pride in this team and a dream for what we can do, which makes me want to do it.”
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Vanderbilt Faces Its Biggest Test Yet After Losing Pavia And Stowers
Vanderbilt heads into a new season with a different kind of pressure after a program-best 10-3 run under Clark Lea, because the Commodores are no longer chasing the surprise of last fall. They are trying to prove that the rise was real even after losing the kind of production leaders that made the offense hum, including quarterback Diego Pavia and tight end Eli Stowers, while still leaning on a roster that brings back a lot of experience on both sides of the ball.
Lea has reason to feel good about the foundation, especially with the portal addition of veteran interior lineman Cooper to help steady a younger offensive line. The bigger question is whether all that experience and depth can hold up when the spotlight gets brighter and the margins get thinner, and whether this group can match last years standard without the same familiar names carrying the load. [Read more 🡒]