Everything Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea Said After Tuesday's Practice
Vanderbilt is in midst of its spring football practices and held a live practice session Tuesday morning. Afterwards, Commodores’ coach Clark Lea met with media members to talk about the day’s practice and what has stood out to him so far.
The Commodores will continue practices this week before holding a scrimmage on Saturday.
Here’s everything Lea said after Tuesday’s practice:
Lea’s Opening Statement…
Practice six, we were able to get some live situational work, which is good — some third down work, which we need, especially on defense. We're starting to feel the wear and tear of being midway through camp, dealing with some bumps and bruises. Nothing long-term right now, but just things that'll keep guys out practice to practice. On the whole, pleased with where we're headed. I guess I wouldn’t expect to feel any other way right now, but it was a good, spirited day. We'll have a lighter day Thursday to set up a scrimmage day Saturday, but right now we're focused on recovery and trying to get as many guys healthy as we can to practice on Thursday.
Lea on what players could return for Saturday’s scrimmage…
It just depends on how we respond this week and what some of the prognoses are. A couple guys got banged up today. We have a couple of hamstring strains that may not be severe but may limit guys’ ability to participate, maybe for a couple weeks. I'm hoping to get some guys like Zen Wood back involved. He was able to do some of practice today. We're starting to see some of those guys that were longer term come back, but I won't know until probably Friday to see who we get back for Saturday.
Lea on spring practices help program take its next steps…
Well, obviously, you want to continue to chase progress, and we measure progress daily on our process, but certainly, we're looking for more in the way of results. We understand, too, that you're talking about four losses last year that averaged out to 4.25 points, and you're talking about four wins last year that averaged out to 6.75 points — eight games decided within one possession. I think I started talking about this when I first got here — the margins are razor thin — but that's exactly what we're staring down.
Lea on what the team is focusing on to take those next steps…
What we do is we focus on us, how we improve, again looking to improve third down defense, looking to improve our run game through the tailback on offense, explosive plays on offense. Those things to me are going to allow us to hopefully build a little more into those margins. That's progress to us, and if we're dedicated and disciplined enough in our process with the runway we have to the season, we'll line up in the summer with a better team for camp, and we'll be prepared to play at a higher level in the fall. We'll play against a bunch of good teams too, so we'll measure our highest level against them, but we have an opportunity right now with the retention of staff and the retention of team to build upon the results. That means we have to be super focused on the areas that we want to improve upon and actually chase football performance.
Lea on tight end Brycen Coleman in spring practices so far…
I've seen him develop at the point of attack over the course of spring. I think today he had a couple of nice catches, and we know what his potential is. I think the word for him is consistency. He's still building his frame out a little bit, but we expect him to be able to help us win games. Again, I'm seeing the progress, and I think as is typical in the spring, we'll go through and after the spring game we'll look back and measure the distance we've covered. Seems like day in and day out I see him working on the things he needs to improve upon to help us win.
Lea on if player retention was easier this year…
It's hard to say. Certainly, there is an internal sense of progress. I think we've always had some internal sense of connection to the mission and what we're building here. Retaining the right people becomes the message of 2023 to 2024. Sometimes, there is an element of loss being gain. That's not to say anything about anyone who's left this program, but it's just to say the specific mission we're on — not everyone's meant for it. For us, obviously, there were plenty of people that were interested in coming back and taking the progress we made and moving it forward and taking it further. With the coaching staff too, I think everyone's excited about the opportunity. I think what we're inspired by or energized by — we tend to seek to be a part of it a little longer. Long-winded, but yeah, a lot of those conversations were easy with players and coaches. There are still transactional elements of that, and that's where we've got to continue to step up as Vanderbilt football and facilitate an experience where no one in this program is compromising.
Lea on quarterback Diego Pavia’s role in retaining key players…
He was a part of it for sure. You can't deny the impact he has on our team. I want to say that if we weren't able to bring him back for whatever reasons, there was still this internal sense of momentum and ground covered. But when you bring your quarterback back, when there's such a belief in him and he builds so much into the DNA of who you are, everyone pays attention to that. Beyond the guys that are here and coming back, I think it also appeals to people that are outside the program looking to come in.
Lea on impressions of his early enrollees…
I want to avoid setting expectations too high. Carson, Kaden, and Van — all three have come in and had the right approach. You want to talk about what bowl practice does and how a bowl game to us — all those guys were with us in that time and were able to experience that. It's almost like you forget that they're early enrollees. They've all three made big plays for us. I couldn't be more impressed with them and what they're bringing. At this point, you look forward and say these guys can help us win this year. There's no reason to think they can't. They’ll get bigger, their body and mind will be taxed with the endurance run of it, but they've been ready to contribute, and we're excited about where they're at.
Lea on spring transfer that have stood out…
Obviously, any player that comes in on the offensive line and is running with your first group is going to stand out. Isiah has been a big part. We're excited about Bryce — he's been banged up, he's got to come along. Keanu was with us in bowl prep. One of our points of focus is how we shorten the down defensively — we’ve got to generate pass rush with a four-man rush. Keanu's going to help us do that. You can see flashes of that and his raw ability. I've been impressed with his mindset too. All these guys that come in — there's a reason they’re here. A lot of times it hasn't gone perfectly at their previous school. They're looking for opportunity, but they also have to experience some kind of change for themselves too. We're using this time to try to create winning habits, create a winning attitude, and pull them into our environment. Hopefully, by the fall, they're all ready to help us win games.
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Taylor Hodges is a staff writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI covering all-things Vanderbilt. Taylor brings more than a decade’s worth of award-winning sports writing, photography and video experience covering every level of sports — from Little League baseball to professional sports and other sports like hunting and fishing. Taylor is fueled by his lifelong passion for sports that began the same day Kirk Gibson hit his legendary World Series walk-off home run, Arkansas beat Texas in Austin and No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami in the Catholics vs. Convicts game.