NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Vanderbilt defense was dealt a tough blow this week when Miles Capers was ruled out for the season due to a knee injury.
A sophomore from South Carolina, Capers was having a strong preseason in which he was in line to start at Vandy’s star position, an outside linebacker spot used to both rush the passer and defend in pass coverage.
“It’s unfortunate with (Capers). Just an unbelievably awesome kid and our hearts hurt for him,” Vanderbilt defensive coordinator Nick Howell said. “He’s here with us so we’re going to watch that process unfold with him and be there cheering for him.
“Moving forward it’s the next man up in that deal. There’s a number of guys that have been practicing over there and those guys will take on a bigger role and we’ll go from there.”
Save for the loss of Capers, the Vanderbilt defense is on solid footing going into the opener Aug. 27 at Hawai’i and the Commodores began preparing for their first opponent Thursday morning on the practice fields behind the McGugin Center. Howell appears to have a good idea of his two-deep rotation at all levels with a little more than a week to go until kickoff.
But the veteran coach cautioned against knowing too much at this stage. Circumstances often change when the lights come on.
“I need to see it in a game. Nothing is real to me until we play,” he said. “We’re going to work toward that as much as we can and the guys are trying really hard and I’m proud of them for that. I want to see it live action. I want to see those guys having fun. They know what they can do, they know the expectation. I’m excited to see it. We’ll evaluate it on a day-to-day basis.”
The Vandy defense will also be facing an unknown of an opponent given that the Rainbow Warriors will be operating under a new head coach (Timmy Chang) and a new offensive coordinator (Ian Shoemaker). Shoemaker has never coached at the Football Bowl Subdivision level but did coordinate high-octane offenses at Eastern Washington for the past three years.
Hawai’i will likely feature an air raid offense with a solid offensive line. Who takes the majority of snaps at quarterback isn’t clear and what sort of firepower the Rainbow Warriors feature at the skill positions is also a bit of a mystery.
“The first game for anybody is going to be the same,” Howell said. “They’re probably saying the same things we’re saying, ‘Are they going to do this? Are they going to that?’ We might practice some stuff they do and we might practice some stuff they don’t do. It really comes down to your rules. Every defense has rules and you just have to execute your assignments and that’s what we’re looking for. We’ll figure it out as the game goes and we’ll adjust.”
Vandy’s Thursday practice was its penultimate one in Nashville ahead of a walk-through Saturday morning and Sunday departure. The Commodores will resume practice Monday in Honolulu and work out each day before Aug. 27.
Howell expects his unit to keep building all the way until showtime.
“I feel good. We’re in a good spot and working, learning,” he added. “We’ll take today and then we’ll go to the next day. Just trying to maximize everything we can out of the day.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt Athletics for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
