Our football team posted a performance for the ages with our 24-21 victory over then No. 24 Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington this past Saturday afternoon.

Junior quarterback Mike Wright, the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, was superb in leading our offense to success in our terrific victory.

Mike went 12 for 23 for 184 yards and a 6, that one going to our awesome junior receiver Will Sheppard with 31 seconds left in the game, a beautiful 8 yard slant. On that game winning drive, Mike also connected with sophomore Quincy Skinner for 40 yards on 4th and 13, which saved the game for us. It was a super throw by Mike and a terrific come back to the ball catch by Quincy. A friend of mine in my office asked me how big Mike is, and he is actually 6’4”, 195, so he’s got perfect size for the position. Mike ran for 126 yards and a 59 yard take it to the house scamper in the first quarter that put us up 7-3. Amazing performance by our great junior who is filling in for our emerging star freshman AJ Swann. That’ll be an interesting competition when AJ returns from his concussion suffered a week and a half ago against South Carolina. Two superb talents. Mike has answered the bell every time his number has been called.

But everybody contributed in this game. The great Sheppard caught 5 passes for 88 yards and a 6. Our defense was tremendous led by rising superstar linebacker CJ Taylor. Our sophomore, who plays a mix of linebacker and safety, called the Star position, posted 6 tackles with a sack for -9 yards, a tackle for loss of 10 yards and an int. Have a day, young man. Middle linebacker Anfernee Orji has been superb all season. Anfernee finished with 4 tackles. Our super safety Jaylen Mahoney posted 4 tackles. Safety Max Worship and linebacker Ethan Barr compiled 5 tackles apiece. I’m looking at some NFL talent on this defense. Orji and Mahoney for sure.

And you can’t forget the amazing effort by our offensive line. Mike rushed for 126 yards and our great running back, Ray Davis, added a buck 29. Sophomore left tackle Gunnar Hansen, 6’5”, 330, sophomore left guard Jake Ketschek, 6’4”, 330, senior center Julian Hernandez, 6’4”, 315, fifth year senior right guard Jacob Brammer, 6’4”, 301, and senior right tackle Junior Uzebu, 6’6”, 310, were phenomenal. Mike had plenty of time to throw and the running game was terrific as we rushed for 264 yards. Wow. Offensive line Coach AJ Blazek has been dealing with injuries all year on the offensive front and is still producing superior results. Says a lot for the guys’ efforts this season and Coach Blazek. What a group.

Just an overall complete effort by our football team. Clark deserves so much credit for sticking with it and never stopping believing. He’s always had the Steve Perry mantra, “Don’t Stop Believing.” I have to admit, I was losing some faith on my all sports blog. I was excited and predicted us to defeat South Carolina 2 weeks ago, and though we had our good moments in that game, it didn’t finish off that well. But Clark has kept the players focused and positive all season long. He’s going to do great things at Vanderbilt University. I don’t like what Clark is doing, I love what Clark is doing. He’s building a highly successful program brick by brick. It’s taking time, but we’re going to get there. We’re going to be a major player in the SEC East and the entire conference in the not too distant future. Just need to keep developing and recrui like gangbusters. Clark’s the man.

Got Florida this Saturday at FirstBank Stadium in Vegas. Kickoff is set for 11 AM CT on the SEC Network. Florida is a hot team and quarterback Anthony Richardson is a hoss, but we definitely have a shot. We’ll need to keep Richardson and that explosive offense in check. He’s dynamic, but we need to keep Anfernee, CJ and Jaylen on him. Need some turnovers, and Mike and the gang will need to move the sticks and get us in the end zone 4 times at least. We can get this done. I know we’ll be locked in. I hope FirstBank is packed out and people will cheer this gutsy team on. Our guys need the support. If we’re going to win out this season and become an elite program, we need our people out there pulling for our guys. Proud of’em. Will keep you posted on the team. We have 15 commits right now, but we turned some heads with the victory at Kentucky. We need to put together another stellar performance Saturday and really get these other recruits interested. Like a lot the commits we have in the fold, just need to keep them committed for signing day, Wednesday, December 21st. We got a lot of momentum from last Saturday. Need to keep up the super work by Clark and this football team.

Former VU wide receiver Trent Sherfield is making his mark in the National Football League as he caught a 14 yard TD pass from Tue Tagovailoa on Sunday in a 39-17 Miami Dolphins victory over the Cleveland Browns. Our former Commodore great, now 26 years old and in his fifth season, has pulled in 22 passes for 247 yards and a 6 this season, the one on Sunday. He’s on a very good Miami Dolphins team as well. Like what the man is doing. Trent’s a superb receiver. Zach Cunningham and Oren Burks among others are also playing well for the Tennessee Titans and SF 49ers respectively,. Zach’s been hurt a little bit, but will be back soon. Oren getting some reps. Will look into our NFL guys more closely coming up and have a report in the near future.

Men’s Basketball

We’ve gotten off to a slow start losing to a very good Memphis team 76-67 last Monday Night, and then losing last Friday Night to Southern Miss, 60-48. Gotta get it going. We’re @ Temple tonight at 6 on ESPN+. No need to panic yet. We’ve got some young players who are trying to figure out the college game. We need our older guys, Jordan Wright, Q, Quentin Millora-Brown, Myles Stute, Tyrin Lawrence and the talented Liam Robbins, to take over leadership and get our team some momentum. Transfer point guard Ezra Manjon, from Cal Davis, looks to have good talent. Just need our older guys to help our talented youngsters in Colin Smith, who shows great potential, Lee Dort and Noah Shelby, all 3 highly rated players, among others.

Stack added a nice class this fall, ranked 24 in the country by ESPN. They are 6’2”, 190 guard Isaiah West from Goodpasture High School in Springfield, Texas, Isaiah is rated a 4 star by ESPN. As a sophomore, Isaiah avereged 15.8 pig and 5.7 rebounds leading his Goodpasture team to its first state championship. Isaiah scored 19 points in the 2021 state championship game. His junior year he battled some injuries, but he’s ready to go for his senior season. He’s a highly ranked 3 star by Rivals and 247 sports.

Four Star center Carter Lang also came into the fold. Carter was ranked a 4 star by ESPN and a high 3 star by Rivals and 247. Carter is 6’9”, 245 from Charlottesville, VA. As a junior, Carter averaged 18.4 points and 14 rebounds for St. Anne’s-Belfield School

We also added ESPN 4 star JaQualon “JQ” Roberts, a 6’8”, 210 power forward from Bloomington North High School in Bloomington, Indiana. As a junior, “JQ” averaged 14.4 points and 9.1 rebounds.

So, 3 awesome additions to the team. We’ll get it going with this current roster. They’re a great, hard working, tightly knit group of talented players. A victory tonight will get things started. Believe in Stack and the team. We’re just getting started.

Our great alumnus, Darius Garland, went for 51 Sunday Night for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite a 128-124 setback to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Darius finished 16 of 31 from the field, including 10 of 15 from trifecta. I watched highlights from the game and DG was draining triples from all over the court. It was a spectacular performance from the great Garland. Wow, if we could have had Darius in 2018, that would have been something else that season. But very happy he’s shining in the NBA.

Baseball

Coach Corbin held our David Williams Fall Classic this past Sunday afternoon at Hawkins Field, to honor our late, great athletic director, and the Gold won over the Black, 2-0. It is a yearly completion for our team and just was named the David Williams Fall Classic last year. Through five innings of action, the two sides were scoreless, but highly promising infielder Matthew Polk, who can really hit, led off the top of the sixth with a double down the left field line. In the next at bat, another very promising player and hitter for us, senior T.J. McKenzie, hit a 2 run shot over the Green Monster in left. Those were the only runs scored on the day. Three players had multi-hit games in McKenzie, catcher Alan Espinol and Ivan Arias. I’ll talk to Corbs at a later date and get more of a rundown on the team. Sophomore Ryan Ginther struck out 7 in 3 innings of action. I’m really excited about sophomores Carter Holton and Devin Futrell. Both leftys. Carter became a dominant starter for us last season and Devin really did some good things for us starting last season. Really excited about those two guys and Nick Maldonado is back for his senior season which is a huge boost to our pitching staff and our team. Sam Hliboki, who missed the entire 2021-22 campaign due to an arm injury, is back and pitched in the Williams Classic and looked sharp. Sam was so outstanding when he pitched in 2021, so I’m real excited to see him pitch. We’ve got a shot to really excel this season. Let me talk to Coach Corbin in the near future and I’ll give you more of an educated rundown. We’ve got the pieces for great SEC success and Omaha ability, so I’ll stay on top of the guys for you. Our team opens the season Feb. 17-19, 2023 in the College Baseball Showdown at Arlington, Texas, Globe Life Field, where hopefully Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter will be starting for the Texas Rangers next season. Should be an awesome year for Dansby, Kyle and all our major leaguers next season. Can’t wait to give you that intel as well. There will be 6 teams in the Showdown. TCU, Texas, OK. State, Missouri, Arkansas and Us. So should be a heckuva classic. Will give you more intelligence from Corbs in the near future. Should be another spectacular season of Vanderbilt Baseball. I’m very excited about our talent and potential. We had some seniors return, which Coach Corbin says is always his best recruiting job, and we’ve got some young studs and the prolific Enrique Bradfield back,. Can’t wait to see what the man does his junior year. I love many of these bats and arms. Defense looks exceptional, too.

Men’s Golf

We always have superbly talented teams under Coach Scott Limbaugh, but this group may be our best yet under the amazing Coach Limbaugh. We defeated defending national champion Texas 3-2 and final four team Arizona State 3-2 to win the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta October 25-26th. In the semifinal match against Texas, Matthew Reidel, William Moll and Cole Sherwood were victorious. In the championship match, Reid Davenport, Reifel and Moll all won with Moll sinking a birdie putt on 18 to clinch it. With those guys and the great Gordon Sargent, who is the returning individual defending NCAA Champion, we’ve got a stellar group. We’ll begin the spring season at the John Hayt Intercollegiate at Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. Feb. 5th-6th, 2023. Can’t wait to see the guys compete in the spring. The SEC Championships will be held at St. Simons Island, Georgia the Sea Island Golf Club, April 19th-23rd, a Wednesday-Sunday. Then the NCAA Regionals are May 15th-17th at a location to be determined, hopefully at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. That’ll be a Monday-Wednesday. And the NCAA Championships will be held May 26th-31st at Grayhawk Golf Club, once again, in Scottsdale, AZ. That will be a Friday-Wednesday competition. Coach Limbaugh has taken us to 4 Final Fours, and is ready, like Corbs was in 2014 and is every year, to knock down that door and win it all. We’ve got the talent to do it without a doubt.

We added 2 players to the team for 2023 in Chase Nevins and Rowan Sullivan. Nevins, from Great Falls Virginia, is a four time American Junior Association Champion At Langley High School, Nevins has helped the Saxons to six straight state championships.

Sullivan, from Charleston, S.C., was the 2021 South Carolina Junior Amateur Champion. Earlier this year, Sullivan won the Class 3A Championship as an individual.

Coach Limbaugh and Coach Gator Todd keep on cookin. Love the golf program.

Women’s Soccer advances in NCAA’s

Our Women’s Soccer team, always a staple of success in Vanderbilt Athletics, won its first round matchup against No.25 Clemson on the road, 1-0. Abi Brighton hit a corner kick that Peyton Cutshall headed in for the winning goal. Awesome job by the ladies. The women are now 12-4-4 and head to Los Angeles to play No. 12 Northwestern at 6 PM CT on Friday. vucommodores.com will have the game on its site. Can’t wait.

Women’s Basketball on a Roll

Our women’s basketball team moved to 4-0 today with an 84-48 victory over Tarleton State in Nashville. We had four players score in double figures led by Marnelle Garraud, who finished with 16. Sacha Washington added 15 and Amauri Williams and Ryanne Allen posted 13. We now have victories over Western Kentucky, 82-71, Samford, 81-51, and Columbia, 74-63, to go along with today’s victory. Like the trajectory of the program under second year coach Shea Ralph. So great stuff going on with the program. Our next game is Thursday at 6:30 PM CT versus Austin Peay at Memorial. SEC Network+ will broadcast. This team could be a hidden gem in the SEC this season and make noise nationally.

And we Dominate Academically

We finished with an overall graduation success rate of 97 during the 2021-22 year. It was the highest of any SEC school for the seventh straight year. Ten Vanderbilt programs earned a perfect score, as those programs led the nation and the SEC. Men’s Cross Country, Men’s Tennis, Men’s Basketball, Men’s Golf, Women’s Basketball, Bowling, Women’s Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer and Women’s Tennis all had perfect scores. That’s sensational. The Football program scored a 96 and ranked second nationally among programs affiliated with a Power 5 conference. Our student-athletes and coaches have always valued education and we proved it once again last year. It’s an exceptionalt University with spectacular student athletes and coaches. Couldn’t imagine a recruit wanting to go anywhere else. Well done Student-Athletes and Coaches.