Vanderbilt Football 'Under Pressure' to Have Greater Recruiting Results This Cycle

After being transfer portal heavy, Vanderbilt is looking to ramp up their high school recruiting once again.

Oct 12, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea walks to the sideline during the first quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

There was a clear change in philosophy following Vanderbilt's disappointing 2-10 record in 2023.

After Clark Lea and his staff had tried to build the program through traditional recruiting manners, it became clear they wouldn't be able to compete in the SEC using those methods considering it's been hard for them to land some of the elite players out of high school.

Instead, the Commodores attacked the transfer portal, bringing in established players at positions of need who can come in and immediately make an impact for them.

That resulted in the program's best season in over a decade.

So, after that result, if it's not broken then don't fix it, right?

Well, that doesn't seem to be the mentality from Lea or anyone else involved with the Vanderbilt football team because Robbie Weinstein of 247Sports stated they are looking to ramp up their efforts in the high school ranks again.

"Although the quality of individual recruits in that class wasn't all that far off from what Vandy would typically expect, quantity is important in a sport where teams have 85 scholarships available. As the No. 73 ranking indicates, this wasn't a good enough class — and the 'Dores will be under pressure to vastly improve this coming cycle," he writes.

This has been something discussed here at Vanderbilt Commodores On SI for a while.

Vanderbilt rightly used the transfer portal to build a roster that could give them a much needed result in the regular season and conference play, but to truly create a successful and consistent program like Lea is trying to accomplish in Nashville, they have to recruit at a higher level.

The good news is they are now more appealing to prospects than ever before.

Not only has Vanderbilt finished new renovations on their stadium, but their NIL money is competitive with other SEC teams and they finally put some success on tape to sell to their targets.

The Commodores won't turn into a powerhouse recruiting machine overnight after just one winning season where they went 7-6, but that result should help them in the 2026 cycle.