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Vanderbilt Football Preview with Andrew Allegretta · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Bow to everybody knows this is how the story we're going, so.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Obviously it's a great voice of Lina Richie, who, by
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: the way, is in concert. I think on Friday night
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Linel Richie and Earth Wind and Fire doing a show
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: at movie. But of course, line of Richie had his
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: first big explosion on the scene as the lead voice
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: of the Commodores, which included this tune when I was
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: in a high school brick house, which tells you about
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: how old I am, but it also kicks me into
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: our sec previews. And next up the Vanderbilt Commodores, coming
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: off that historic ten and three season of a year ago,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: and pleased to be joined by our friend Andrew Ala
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Gretta on the hot line. Andrew, I appreciate the time,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and I would imagine there's a lot of excitement there,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: uh there on campus coming off a ten win season
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: under Clark Lee as he it's ready to start a
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: sixth season.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Craig, it's good to talk to you. I'm not sure
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: if it's as much excitement as Cam Coleman making ridiculous
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: catches in, but we've got enthusiasms.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: You know, uh, you know, there was a great deal
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: of debate. You know how long Ward fans could be
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: as too, because they the past wobbled. It was like
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: was that a pass from March? Did he throw a
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: wounded duck? It was all that kind of there was
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: at tipped, come to find out later was tip. But
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: that's the kind of the craziness that some fans get
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: into off of that deal. One thing that I noticed
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: when I was up there for the baseball series in May,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and then I was up there about three weeks ago
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: passing through town with my wife and we stayed there
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: at the hotel right by campus and right by the stadium,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: and I noticed there was even more work, more renovation,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: more addition uh done to a First Bank stadium. And
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: also it continues as well Hawkins Field with a baseball
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: ballpark as well. So I would imagine, and I saw
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: this week on a line that season tickets are sold out,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and I guess that's where I was leading. With the
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: excitement level that's building coming off that ten win campaign
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: of a season ago.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Oh we are, There's no doubt about it. There's a
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: lot of excitement about the program where it is what
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: it means to quote unquote rebuild for vand or build.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: If that's kind of the mold that we're in, and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to necessarily label it as a rebuild,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: but there's no doubt that we're transitioning from a moment
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: with Papa and Stours to a moment without Pavia and Stours.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: There's certainly a lot of excitement around the possibility of
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Jared Curtis, this five star quarterback that he commits from
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Georgia and comes to us a Nashville kid. He has
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: not won the job yet, so we don't know if
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: that's where that's going. It certainly could be blazed ber
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a little bit. There is both I think excitement, Craig,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: but I think there's a lot of intrigue from Vanderbilt
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: fans to see where it goes. I think the gap
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: is vanderfilt fans believe that there will be sustained success
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: with Coach Lee, and I think the outside world is
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: a little bit more skeptical.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Well, and I guess it's kind of like, prove it
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to us again, right, prove it to us again, coming
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: off the back to back Bowl appearances and that sort
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: of thing. Before we get to the quarterback situation, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: you mentioned Eli Stowers who And I told you this
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: story that I got a chance to call the state
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: championship game for television where Eli was a quarterback and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: such a great athlete, had a great career at Vanderbilt
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: once he transferred over there. But the other guy, they've
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: got a chance to call some games, where was Cedric
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Alexander playing for LBJ in this town? And now he
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: begins his senior year, and safe to say he's the
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: lead guy back there isn't he?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I think, so we're really fortunate to have Cedric Alexander.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Cole Kublick has said this, and like I believe it
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: wholeheartedly that Cedric Seti, whatever you want to call him,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: is truly one of the most underrated players in the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference. He doesn't put up as many quote unquote
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: like home run runs. Now he did have one versus
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Alabama a season ago, but he's in the end zone constantly.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: He's got twenty one career rushing touchdowns, which puts him
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: third all time at Vanderbilt. And I don't know that
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: there's a ton of running backs that can do all
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: three phases the way that Seti does runs the football.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: If that play can get you five yards Seti's gonna
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: get you five yards every single time. And then he
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: can stretch it too. He can catch the football out
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of the backfield. I think he has like seven catches
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: versus Alabama, that famous game that we had two seasons ago,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: five six stevesn something like that. And then boy can
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: he block. Like if you want to put him in
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: on third down and shotgun and he's going to take
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: care of your quarterback, He'll put somebody on the turf
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: like he is so deeply underrated to do everything that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you could possibly ask of a running back.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: No doubt about it. Visiting with Andrew Alei grad to
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: play by play voice of the Vanderbilt Commodore's here, I'm
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: thirteen under the zone. Okay, it's kind of a tough
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: act to follow. What Diego Pavia did.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I know that.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Is legendary stuff. What he did in a Vanderbilt uniform.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: So I'm seeing what There are several different candidates for
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: the starting job or is it being handed to the
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: freshman Jared Curtis.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's certainly not being handed to Jared Curtis, And
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Vanderbilt has done pretty adamant throughout the recruiting process that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: as he made the switch from Georgia to Vanderbilt. Nothing
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: was promised to him, and I would tell you being
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: out at fall camp that certainly appears to be the case.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: It is a healthy and true quarterback competition. Jared Curtis
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: is very much in the mix. He looks every bit
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: athletically like a five star quarterback. There's no doubt, buddy.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: He's a freshman and he's coming from what has been
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: a little bit of a lower level high school in
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Tennessee to Southeastern Conference football. Like that's going to be
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: hard to do if it's the highest level of Texas football,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: let alone lower level Tennessee football making that transition up
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to the Southeastern Conference. So there's obvious and clear growth
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that he's going to have to make understanding how to
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: play the quarterback position. I don't think that's a surprise
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: to anybody. You've got an upperclassman in Blaize Burlowitz, who's
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: been in the system for a couple of years, came
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: from New Mexico State and has backed up Diego Papa
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: for a couple of seasons now, so he's got more experience.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: He understands the system a little bit better. His overall
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: athletic skill set is not the same. But it's not
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: just like, oh, who can throw the football the furthest
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: That doesn't translate to who's the best quarterback to help
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: you win games? And there's a couple of other guys
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: down the list. The defensive coordinator for you guys, his
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: son with Muschamp is I think quietly putting together a
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: pretty good ball camp. Do I think he's going to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: be the starting quarterback? I don't know. That would probably
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: be out of bounds for me to evaluate the quarterback
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: competition too far. But it's a true competition and what
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: it means to quote unquote follow Diego Poppy. I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: all of these guys and Clark will manage it really well.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: It's like you're not following Diego Poppy. You're just going
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: out to be yourself and helping this version of Vandergilt
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: football find success. So we don't have a announced starter
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: just yet. We've got a couple of I would suspect
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: pretty important scrimmages on Saturday and the following Saturday that
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I do suspect will go a long way to determining
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: who coach Lee and Tim Beck want to be the starter.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: You know in looking at the receiving position. Yeah, Stowers
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: isn't there anymore. But what you do have, you've got
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: some experience in sometality. Guys have remember seeing Junior Cheryl
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: make some big catches last year. How about your thoughts
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: on your receiving corp.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I think it's got skill. I think it's probably unproven.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Junior is very much proven. Like he's he's a really
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: good wide receiver that has made it consistently important plays
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: for us to the past couple of seasons. He will
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: go down again Vanderbilt lore as one of the most
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: important plays in that Alabama game of fourth down and
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  Speaker 1: one touchdown reception for like thirty five yards, but set
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: career high last year, and like he looks very in control.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: If he's the cam Coleman athletic freaking by the way,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: cam Coleman eight US up last year versus Augurn, he
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: was just he was a menace to deal within that game.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: But Junior is just like really good. He knows how
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to be a receiver. I think he can probably play
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: at the next level. We'll see where that goes. But
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: he's super talented. After him, there is I don't want
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: to call it uncertainty, but it's just new some new pieces.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: We brought in a guy by the name of to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Corey Thomas, who's super talented, one of the bigger wide
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: receivers Vanderbilt has had, I would say in the past
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: four to five seasons. He's coming from Old Dominion, so
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: he's going to have to figure out what it means
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to perform consistently at this level. We've got a really
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: nice piece in Cole Adams who's a transfer from Alabama,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: kind of looking for his shot, but it was recruited
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: to Alabama. He's got the skills, like I don't want
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: to call him a slot receiver because that's not fair
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to him, but he can he can play a lot
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of different positions despite being undersized. And then we're going
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: to replace Sours with a Cole Spence tight end who
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: has been in the program for a number of years.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: He can block, he can get out, he can catch.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: We we've got a tight end from East Carolina and Connor.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of pieces, like there's no doubt, there's
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: pieces that just you know, you're coming off the season
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: with Pavia and everyone had their defined roles. It's like, Okay,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: how are we going to figure out how these pieces
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: look when you actually put them together?
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: No doubt about that. I would it be safe to
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: say that other than other than seeing who's going to
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: emerge as the starting quarterback, that the biggest question mark
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: with the offense will be, Hey, if this, you know,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: if this comes through, it could be really big. Would
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: be along the offensive line. With the loss of several
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: key personnel to graduation last year.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: You could probably say that about every single football team, Like,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: if you can block them up right, you've got you've
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: got a chant. We replaced a lot on that offensive line.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: We returned to guard and Kate McConnell, who I think
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: is pretty good. But there's no doubt that the way
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: that Vanderbilt has approached recruiting is to put a lot
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: of resources in the transfer portal on the lines. And
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that's easy to say, it's hard to execute, but I
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: do think they deserve credit. This is Clark, this is
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Barton Simmons and being very aggressive at those positions to
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: find good fits that match the system. Like we brought
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: in a kid from pitt that's going to be our
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: new starting center. He's already up for the Remington Award,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: which you know it's watchless season. I get that, but
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: he's noted for his skill. That's great. We've got a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: developing tackle who's like six foot eight and the massive
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: like they put that emphasis in. I do think that
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: there will clearly be just like the receivers shifting the quarterback,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: there's like a lot of this stuff. It's get like,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: we're not We're not just gonna just roll out there
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: versus Austin p and gonna think that this is easy peasy,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Like there's gonna there's gonna take some time. I do
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: think likely to make it all gel. But I think
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: the talent is there. I really think the talent on
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: this team is there. It's almost, to some extent a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: little opposite from last year where you look offense defense
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and you see all these really good pieces, but you
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: need to have the captain of the ship helped get
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: it there. Last year, you go, Okay, well, I don't
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: know what we have in some of these spots, but
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: we do know that we've got the captain and he'll
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: take us there. So there's some role reversal from a
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: season ago. But the talent, I think it's as deep
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and talented as a roster that Clark has had in
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: six seasons.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Andrew Alla greda play by play voice, and the Vanderbilt
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Commodoces joined us for a few more minutes. You can
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: you can have a much more I would imagine upbeat
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: and knowledgeable. I guess prognosis of what your defense may
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: be A believe with all those returning starters, that looks
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: like it can be a real strength of this team.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say something that's so like brutally boring. It's like, man,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: can a pitcher throw strikes? I think I think this
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: year's football team, especially early on, will be defined by
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: three incredibly boring characteristics. One can we run the football? Two?
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Do we take care of the football? And three can
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: we play defense? It's it's again back to the offense.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We're just not We scored five hundred points last year offensively,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: which was the second most in program history. We're not
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: probably positioned early on in the season to do that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: We might get there, but what buys you time and
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: takes the pressure off the offense needing to execute massive
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: chunk plays is like, can you get off the field
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: on third downs? Can your defense create some turnovers? Can
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: you run the football and drop the temperature on third
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: down and ten, so it's third down and one. I mean,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: it's it's really boring stuff, but I think that's probably
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: who we are, and I do think the defense has
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: a chance to do that. Like I unequivocally think it's
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the most sec looking defense that Clark has had in
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: six years. Some of that is returning pieces, some of
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: that is addition, but I think it's I think it's
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: a it's a unit that can get after the quarterback.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: We don't have a Colin Simmons like you guys do,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: but we've got some pieces that can get after the quarterback.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: And I think we've got a secondary that that is
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: gonna surprise some people with how talent it is. I mean,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: there's big assignment out there in this conference. There are big, big, big, big,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: big assignments in this conference. But I think we've got
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: more pieces that will be up to the challenge and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: won't require our defensive staff to, you know, like drop
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a bunch of people on coverage. So there's help, right,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Like if you maybe afforded the ability to blitz a
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: little bit and have a couple of guys match up
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: one on one. I think there's probably more tools in
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the toolbox for a defensive coordinator this year than perhaps
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: in past seasons.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you a little bit about the schedule,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: because when I've talked to the other play by play guys,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: everybody's schedules are unique, and some have those traditional end
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: of season non conference games like Florida, Florida State and
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Kentucky Louisville, those types of things, and with a nine
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: game conference schedule, that really meant a real quick ramp up.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: In the case of the schedule that you guys have, however,
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: I think it's kind of beneficial, not that it's going
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: to be that easy, but you mentioned Austin p They
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: come down I twenty four, so you have them as
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: an FCS and then Delaware, which is just now in
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: its second season in FBS competition, in NC State, which
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: is a home game. And then of your five conference
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: road games, four are against teams that had sub five
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: hundred records last year. Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, in Florida.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Now all of them perhaps figured to be better. And
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: you do have to go to Georgia obviously, and you
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: got a Ole miss albeit at home, and Alabama at
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: home in Tennessee at home. What do you make of
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: the schedule on how it sets up for the commodours.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I don't know, and again not a compout. I have
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: always felt uneasy talking about schedules and projections coming off
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the twenty four season, where you could have told me
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Vanderbilt got to seven and six, but you weren't going
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: to tell me that Vanderbilt gets to seven and six
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: by losing to Georgia State and beating number one Alabama
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: in the same season. Yeah, so I'm a little always
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: tepid to feel too much of anything. I think my
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: two thoughts are I think we'll learn a lot with
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Austin in Delaware. I really have felt like over the years, Craig,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: that when you've got a team that handles non conference opponents, well,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden you feel like you've got a
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: team that can step into the fight in the SEC.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: And then you know, in twenty three, here we just
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: kind of each by Hawaii, and we didn't look particularly
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: great versus an Alabama A and M team, and lo
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: and behold we went ohero and eight in conference play.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So you know, I do feel like non conference play
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: will tell us a lot. To your point about some
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: of the teams that we play. This might mean something,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: this might not, But I do think it's interesting that
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: we play all of the teams with a new head coach,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: with the exception of Belishue. Wow, what does that mean?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I don't necessarily know, but I but I do. But
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: I do feel like ups and downs are typical for
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: a program with a new head coach. And that doesn't
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: mean they're like terrible on any given Saturday, but like
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: you know, if there's not always perfect execution and you're
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: learning things and like good and bad moments and all
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: of that sort of stuff. Right Like, you've got a
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: new head coach in Florida, we played them. We got
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: a new head coach in Old Myths. We played them.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: They're really good, but he's still in his first full season.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Pe Golding and what Auburn's got a new coach. We
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: played them, And I know Mississippi State's been down a
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: little bit, so I don't know. I'm it's an interesting schedule,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: but I feel like Vanderbilt again not to give you
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: like just brutally disgusting cliche takes like it's gonna have
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: to figure out itself and its own execution before things
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: like and this is not pessimistic, I just because the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: defense I think is really good. In the offense, there's
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of pieces, but when you've got a new
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: starting quarterback, you got to figureself yourself out first. I
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: think if we take care of ourselves, I think all
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, some of those opportunities with the opponents
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: might be a factor. But if we're not taking care
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: of the football very well and the defense isn't creating
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: turnovers and we can't run the football, then you know,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know how much it's going to matter that
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Forlord is coming off a difficult season, like the swamp's
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: going to sit right on top of you and we're
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: going to throw a pick and you know we'll lose
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a football game. So I think there's opportunity there, but
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't know how much of an opportunity
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I think it is until until you watch them playoffstin
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Tea in Delaware and kind of figure out who this
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: team is in twenty twenty six, moving on from twenty.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: Twenty five, that's a good point there. Final thing I
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: had for you, Andrew, and that's that's about Clark lay
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: and he has just been he has been very calm,
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: direct and yet adamant and determined that this program is
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: not going to take a step back, that they that
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: they have figured out what they need to do where
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: and how to go about it on a year and
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: yet are out basis. And he he really does seem
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: to have a planned for sustained success for a program
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: that's had little of that down through the decade. So
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: how about your thoughts on the impact that he is
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: having on this program and how he seems to be
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: building it for sustainability.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: I think it's immense. I mean, I don't think we're
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: here without Clark. I think he is part of a
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: pretty dangerous, you know, two or three headed monster with
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: this program, which then continues to athletic director Candice LeAnn,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the chancellor Daniel Germeyer. Clark is great just from I
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: don't know, he's a great motivator. I think he holds
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: high standards. I think he's incredibly brilliant, like incredibly brilliant.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: You're talking about well educated private school education here in Nashville.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Just a just a generically cerebral individual, somebody that went
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: to Vanderbilt and graduated from Vanderbilt, which you know, just
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: because you have a fancy degree doesn't necessarily give you anything.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: But I think, I think, I think he has proven
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: his intellectual chops on a day in, day out basis,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: which is important. And I think he's got like a
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a He talks about his flame burning hot all of
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the time. Now it doesn't like explode, but he's gonna
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: burn hot for a long time and just be very
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: stick to itive with what he's doing. And and you know,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: another key part of it again, he made great hires
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: with Jerry Kill and Tim Back. I think the fact
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: that he's a Vanderbilt guy, and I think in this
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: era of nil and resources, the fact that that he
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: can have found success with Diego, and I think he
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: can marshal support within the Vanderbilt community because he's one
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of their own and he understands the language is all
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: really important. So again, I don't you know what it
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: means to sustain success. I don't want to put like
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: wind and lost numbers on that, but I think I
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: think he's got this place in pretty good footing. And
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: then you add committed people above him, and Candice Lay
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and Daniel Deermeyer and you've got to you've got to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: really dangerous combo for Vanderbilt finding success in the long term.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Andrew Alligretta is the play by play voice of the
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Vanderbilt Commodores. Andrew, I appreciate the time. If I see
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: you this season, that means it'll be in Atlanta for
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: the SEC Championship. Since Texas and Vanderbilt have had a
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: couple of bang bang games last couple of years. But
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: it'd be fun to see you again.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I'll see in Atlanta.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: That all right, Thank you, appreciate that. That's Andrew Alligretta,
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: the voice of the Vanderbilt Commodores. All right, Coming up next,
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: we bring in Conceivable here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: under the zone of the iHeartRadio app.