NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt took the first step Friday toward the 2021 season with its first practice of fall camp under the lights on the practice fields behind the McGugin Center.
The Commodores went at it for more than two hours as Clark Lea watched and conducted his first preseason practice as the Vandy head coach. He blew the whistle on his first training session a little after 7:30 p.m. and then addressed his team – an address which featured some fiery tones at points.
“Being affective, I think, is picking and choosing your moments,” Lea said. “But they see my intensity every day. We talk truthfully to each other. Most times I can do that in a normal tone, but there’s going to be times when they need to feel it a little more. It’s not new to them.”
Day 1⃣ ➡️ 👏#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/ziX5YZU6O2
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) August 6, 2021
Vanderbilt is a little less than a month away from hosting East Tennessee State (Sept. 4) at Vanderbilt Stadium in the first of 12 games in the 2021 season. While that may seem like a long way away, the sense of urgency amongst the team was apparent at times Friday with the knowledge that something new is on the horizon.
Lea said Friday night gave his squad a chance to take preparation to performance. He won’t be as concerned with some of the techniques of his team when reviewing the practice film as he will be with what the mindset looked like.
“As the year goes on we just have to mature and develop in terms of our competitive spirit. Winning’s an attitude, winning’s a skill that you practice,” Lea said. “My responsibility is to be intense when I need to be intense to make sure we’re pulling that forward.
“It’s practice one, day one. I mean, listen, the rhythm, timing, execution – that will clean up. The attitude, the effort, the intentionality on the field? That’s what I want to see take a jump in a day.”
Vandy began and ended the first practice of the fall with some team-on-team work. It also went through individual drills, positional training and 7-on-7 situations, among other periods. Lea, offensive coordinator David Raih and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter are continuing to evaluate which student-athletes will be able to fill out a starting lineup and part of that process began Friday.
Vanderbilt has 45 freshmen and sophomores on the current roster which equates to a lot of young players jockeying for playing time come September.
“We’re sorting through a depth chart,” Lea said. “We’ll proceed that way through the next week and a half and hopefully things will start to crystallize as guys separate. But we need to give them a chance to compete here early on.”
Vanderbilt is scheduled to return to the field at 5:30 p.m. Saturday before an off day Sunday. The Dores will then be on the grass every day next week leading up to the first scrimmage of the preseason at Vanderbilt Stadium on Aug. 14.
Lea, a former Vanderbilt fullback, will not only continue to mold his team between the lines but off the field as well.
“We’ve gone through a complete psychological overhaul. It’s been gradual, but we to took some time at the end of July as a staff just to reflect back on players on an individual level and then as a group and team as a whole just on how far it is that we have come,” Lea said. “It’s hard to unlock performance when attitudes aren’t right. We learn that as children and then we parent that into our children. That’s certainly true of a high-performance environment at a competitive level like the SEC.
“Before we can expect to go and impose our will on an opponent we have to impose our will on ourselves every day making sure we have the right attitude, making sure we’re viewing our experience for what it is and shielding ourselves from all the static that exists that can distract us our take us off course.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
