Insider States This One Area of Vanderbilt's Coaching Staff Is Hurting Recruiting

Vanderbilt has one major area of concern when it comes to their recruiting efforts.
View of a Vanderbilt Commodores helmet
View of a Vanderbilt Commodores helmet / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images
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Where do the Vanderbilt Commodores go from here?

That is the question being asked by the fan base, people in the athletic department and those around the sport of college football.

It was a remarkable showing they had by their standards in 2024.

Not only did they secure a winning season for the first time in 11 years by recording their first bowl win since that very same campaign, but they also upset the then-No. 1- ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, shockingly beat Virginia Tech in the opener, and came close to pulling off two more stunners against Missouri and Texas.

But, there have been one-hit wonders before, and if Vanderbilt is going to remain competitive in the conference going forward, they have to capitalize on the best public perception they've had in a while.

That means winning recruiting battles.

The Commodores changed their philosophy to become more transfer portal centric to get players into the program who can make immediate impacts, something that clearly worked this past season.

However, Clark Lea knows they have to start recruiting high school athletes better if they are going to sustain this level of success.

Robbie Weinstein of 247Sports shared a concerning bit of information about a weak link on this coaching staff when it comes to picking up commitments at a key area of need.

"Vandy did not land a single commit on the offensive line in its 2025 class. Offensive line coach Chris Klenakis has struggled in recruiting; O-line prospects recently have been announcing offers from assistant offensive line coach Dylan Autenrieth rather than Klenakis. Kevin Peay, who signed with Georgia Tech, indicated to 247Sports that Klenakis was not overly involved in his recruitment. That's a problem," he reported.

If this doesn't get addressed or fixed soon, that's going to become a major issue for Vanderbilt.

The Commodores could also just hand the reins over to Dylan Autenrieth and have him become the key recruiter for offensive linemen if that's not the specialty of Chris Klenakis, but it's hard to make prospects feel like priorities if the main coach at their position isn't involved in their recruitment.

What comes from this will be seen.

Not securing one offensive line commit in any singular class for a Power 4 program is not just shocking, it's borderline unacceptable no matter if they became more focused on the transfer portal than anything else.

Vanderbilt needs to use this newfound success to jumpstart their efforts on the recruiting trail.

Klenakis has to become a major part of that.


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