Making Plays for McKenzie

Run game coordinator and running back coach Norval McKenzie excited for new energy at Vanderbilt

by Chad Bishop

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Like a handful of coaches on staff, Norval McKenzie knows what it feels like to wear the black and gold on Saturdays in Vanderbilt Stadium.

The former Commodore running back played alongside head coach Clark Lea – in the same backfield actually – and with defensive ends coach Jovan Haye. McKenzie returned to Nashville earlier this year as part of Lea’s first staff in order to help set a new foundation for years to come.

“We’re taking a holistic approach in terms of building these guys into young men, building them as football players and building them into citizens of the community,” McKenzie said. “It’s been awesome.”

McKenzie rushed for nearly 1,500 yards – averaging 4.7 yards per carry – in four seasons and 37 career games for the Commodores. His best season came in 2003, when he scored five times on the ground, rushed for 639 yards and caught 15 passes for 109 yards.

A Powder Springs, Georgia, native, McKenzie has just four running backs with him this spring and only a couple of those will be available for Saturday’s annual spring game. That hasn’t deterred them, McKenzie said, from being fully committed to the process.

“We’ve got small numbers, but we’re trying to hone in on our fundamentals,” McKenzie said. “We talk as an offense that our technique is our scheme. Really what we’re trying to do is build these guys from the ground up – that’s from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint.

“These guys have embraced coaching, which has been really good. We only have a few guys in the room. They could easily complain. They could easily sulk. But they haven’t. They come every day ready to work, to give 110 percent and to be coachable. I’ve been very pleased with how they have responded to that.”

Vanderbilt has Ja’Veon Marlow and Rocko Griffin returning to the backfield in 2021 and former linebacker Luke Blanton joined that duo at running back. Re’Mahn Davis, a transfer from Temple, will also be competing for carries. Marlow has played in 16 games during a career hampered by injuries while Griffin made his debut in 2020 and appeared in eight contests.

Davis, as a freshman in 2019, totaled nearly 1,000 yards rushing on 193 attempts.

McKenzie will look to help that quartet – along with future Commodores who join the program – to become the best Vanderbilt student-athletes they can be. The long-time coach is confident in the ability to do that inside a positive and supportive environment.

“The biggest thing is the energy behind the program right now,” McKenzie said. “There’s a lot of momentum that we have, especially with the new facilities that Dr. (Candice) Lee has helped promote for the athletic department.

“There has been a ton of energy, a ton of excitement and it has been a lot fun.”

— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.