July 9, 2010
Buy 2010 Season Tickets Starting at $125
Udom Umoh has been having a terrific summer by all accounts, putting on weight, gaining speed, getting healthy. He’s putting himself through the ringer.
The strain on his body doesn’t compare with how he felt about Vanderbilt’s last season and what he decided to do about it.
“I was just sick to my stomach,” Umoh said. “For me, I knew what I could do to help my team, and I knew I could’ve done so much better.”
The wide receiver and special teams standout had a solid year in 2009, catching 20 passes for 267 yards, a team-best 13.4 yards per reception, and posting 10 tackles on coverage units. But that production wasn’t enough to stamp out the frustrations he felt about a difficult season for the Commodores and the offense in particular.
The aerial attack averaged just over 146 yards per game, second lowest in the conference, and Vanderbilt mustered just under 9 points a game in SEC play en route to a 2-10 record. The wide receiving corps was inexperienced entering the season, and it showed.
So after the spring semester of classes and practices, Umoh went back to Fort Valley, Ga., his hometown, in May and reflected on how he wanted his third season of action to be vastly different from the second.
“I don’t want to have any regrets,” Umoh said. “I just had a different mindset to do whatever I can. I talked to my mom and to my high school coach. They really helped me out, just telling me my potential’s unlimited, so I’m just reaching for the sky.”
Already a great blocker, Umoh has put on five pounds of muscle since spring practices thanks to a re-committed effort in the weight room. While taking summer classes, Umoh has also been a workhorse on the practice field, working with his quarterbacks to get Vanderbilt’s passing game back on track. Also, being the most battle-tested returning receiver, he becomes the presumptive leader of a unit that knows it must increase its production if Vanderbilt wants to be successful in 2010.
Everyone knows it, even the incoming Commodores. Rising freshmen receivers Chris Boyd, Jonathan Krause, Jordan Matthews and Trent Pruitt could work their way into playing time in their first season. They’ve been so eager while working out at Vanderbilt this summer, with their constant inquiries about everything from route-running to blocking assignments, that they’re wearing on Umoh a little. But in a good way.
“They’re out here, following me, getting on my nerves because they’re asking, `What am I doing?'” Umoh said, smiling. “But I like it. They’re ready to play. Everybody’s always talking about (how) we’re going to be better than last year. I can see that their determination is higher than last year.”
That includes a belief that nothing the coaching staff will throw at the players during August training camp will be too much after the summer they’ve put already themselves through.
“Every player, we’re going to go hard. I’m ready for the year, because last year just made us…so sick. I know it made me so sick,” he said.
And there’s no better medicine for that than winning.