One of Vanderbilt's Greatest Challenges Will Be Keeping Their Roster Together
Things did not end the way Vanderbilt wanted.
After getting out to a 6-3 record that clinched themselves a bowl game, they finished the regular winless. The gauntlet SEC schedule finally caught up to them when they faced a red-hot South Carolina team, talented LSU roster on the road, and their archrivals Tennessee in the finale.
Still, going .500 during the course of the year is something this program should be celebrating.
They'll have one more opportunity to lock up their first winning season since 2013, which was also the last time the Commodores won a bowl game.
It will be interesting to see where and when Vanderbilt ends up playing.
They'll find out on Dec. 8, but that is going to be just the start of a busy period for Clark Lea and his coaching staff when it comes to continuing to build upon this successful campaign going forward.
"Vanderbilt will, of course, see some players enter the transfer portal. That's an inevitability in this era ... But the Commodores have more NIL money than they have in the past, and it's important that they keep some of the key players on the team," writes Aria Gerson of The Tennessean.
Will they be able to is the question.
Last year, they were crushed by departures.
247Sports had the toatl number at 25.
Six of those players were listed within the top 100 of portal rankings and went on to star at their new programs this season, especially wide receivers Will Sheppard and London Humphries at Colorado and Georgia respectively.
No other school in the country lost more top 100 talent than Vanderbilt, so when taking that into consideration, it's even more impressive what they were able to accomplish this year and what that could look like going forward.
Lea is here as head coach for the long haul if he can continue having the same types of performances they had this season, so that affords him the time to build through high school recruiting and pluck the right guys in the transfer portal.
Vanderbilt seems to be getting closer to having their ideal culture in place, too.
Junior linebacker Langston Patterson said players who weren't the best fit have been "weeded out" from the program, perhaps a reason why this team took such a major leap forward this year.
Here's the timeline to keep in mind as Lea and his staff get ready for a busy winter.
Vanderbilt will find out which bowl game they will be competing in on Dec. 8.
One day later, the transfer portal opens and doesn't close until Dec. 28, giving players roughly two-and-a-half weeks to decide what they are going to do going forward.
Meanwhile, the team will be practicing and getting prepared for the bowl game while trying to reach out to others around the country who are looking for a new place to play football in their careers.
It's a lot, and it's something Lea and his staff have to manage, especially when it comes to keeping their own guys this offseason.
