It now appears like a lifetime in the past that Vanderbilt was rocking the Diego Pavia present and making rounds all by means of faculty soccer. Regardless of solely being a season later, issues have radically modified for the Dore’s and it’s typically been not for the higher. After rating eighth within the nation in scoring a 12 months in the past, they’ve plummeted again to earth and are ranked 103rd within the nation at solely 23 factors per sport.
Tim Beck returns because the OC, and should you missed my breakdown on his scheme in earlier years, go give this a learn:
He’s an attention-grabbing coach who began at Pittsburg State proper out of school below Dennis Franchione, then stayed with that program for the subsequent 30 years, together with 15 as OC after which 10 years as their head coach. And actually the one head coach he served below was Chuck Broyles… Who additionally most of his profession at Pittsburg State. So there’s little or no overlapping teaching affect on Beck – he developed his scheme considerably on an island, reasonably than by means of working for various coaches.
Finally, he wound up with one thing of a power-spread offense that operates lots out of the pistol, and it did an entire lot of harm at Vanderbilt the final two seasons in his first shot within the large leagues.
A few their playmakers from the final two years return this 12 months as effectively: Working again Sedrick Alexander and broad receiver Junior Sherrill. Previous these two, although, the Dores just about completely turned over the remainder of their offense, and the adjustments within the OL and QB have saved them held again.
So let’s begin with the QB. Jared Curtis was the #2 general prospect as a recruit final 12 months and famously picked Vandy over Georgia. He’s a 230-lb man with a giant arm and good speeding capacity and energy, so there’s loads to be enthusiastic about. However to this point, Curtis has regarded very very similar to a real freshman thrust into the SEC. He’s been enhancing as a passer and is averaging over 11 yards per completion, however he’s additionally thrown 8 interceptions on solely 224 makes an attempt.
His receiving weapons are just about Junior Sherrill…. And everybody else will get a goal or two to go between them. Sherrill has 56 catches for 747 yards, and in second place is operating again Sedrick Alexander with 17 catches. Sherrill is a powerful receiver, little doubt, however an offense/QB that’s that centered on a single receiver makes them extraordinarily one-dimensional.
The opposite situation for the Dores has been their drop off within the speeding sport. Alexander was a 5+ yards per carry quantity again a 12 months in the past, however now he’s solely at 333 yards with a 3.9 common. And his change of tempo man, Makhilyn Younger, isn’t breaking off the explosives. However even larger is the sheer quantity of carries going to Jared Curtis within the QB run sport, and he simply isn’t creating the wizardry that Diego Pavia did. Curtis has 76 speeding makes an attempt for less than 172 yards. That lack of manufacturing has the offense fairly effectively mired in place, and the complete Tim Beck scheme is constructed across the QB energy run as the first play taking defenders away from all of their different performs.
So far, it’s exhausting to see Vanderbilt and Curtis lastly placing issues collectively and getting the offense clicking proper earlier than the season wraps up. Curtis and Sherrill are a harmful connection they usually can transfer that ball that approach, however they only don’t have every other components of their sport they’ll depend on.
Alabama’s Kane Wommack held Beck and the Commodores to their season low in factors a 12 months in the past after struggling in 2024, and it was clear that the 24 loss was one which Wommack took to coronary heart schematically and took lots of time learning up for Beck and Pavia. I think about that’s going to carry true this 12 months as effectively, and Vandy is a a lot much less harmful group.
So I take into consideration 10-13 factors is all we see from the Commodores this upcoming weekend. It’ll largely be a defensive domination from the Tide.