Feb. 5, 2009
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Bobby Johnson has landed his best recruiting class coming off Vanderbilt’s first bowl win in 26 years.
The Commodores beat Boston College in the Music City Bowl to finish 7-6 with the first winning season since 1982. That finish helped Johnson polish off his best class even with only 17 signees.
“The bowl victory helped us finish off this class and keep them interested in Vanderbilt and wanting to come to Vanderbilt,” Johnson said.
“But I think the biggest push we’ll get out of that bowl victory is when we start recruiting this year’s juniors and hopefully get them on campus this spring and maybe get them to commit earlier to our program this coming season.”
Vanderbilt signed 17 players, four fewer than a year ago, and concentrated on the secondary where Johnson added four defensive backs and a safety to a defense losing All-SEC cornerback D.J. Moore to the NFL Draft.
The Commodores wrapped up their class with their second running back in Wesley Tate, the younger brother of Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate.
He ran for 1,301 yards and 18 touchdowns for the private school where he played for former Vandy player Jeff Brothers. Tate chose Vandy over Georgia Tech and Purdue.
This is the best haul in Johnson’s eight classes with 12 signees rated with three stars out of five by Rivals.com. His 2008 class had just four such three-star players, and Johnson also landed their first Parade All-American in years in quarterback Charlie Goro.
“We didn’t know he was going to be that decorated to tell you the truth. But Charlie had a fantastic senior year. Charlie came to camp. We had a chance to see him in action. We could see he was very mobile. He also had a great arm, just seemed to have a knack about him,” Johnson said.