March 21, 2015
Howell’s Photos | Quotes | Final Stats 
| Series-By-Series
Mason | Ludwig | Smith | Ferguson | Sherfield | Weatherly | Robinette
Capping off its spring drills, the Vanderbilt football team held its annual spring game on Saturday. The Black (defense) team defeated Gold, 38-24, in a contest that used a modified scoring system.
Head coach Derek Mason said the contest gave the Commodore supporters a glimpse of what they can expect this fall.
“You want your fan base to get to see some players that maybe they don’t know,” said Mason, “and I thought there was some give and take on both sides of the ball today.”
Redshirt junior Stephen Weatherly delivered one of the afternoon’s biggest plays when he batted a pass in the air and came down with an interception that he returned 29 yards to the 1-yard line late in the third quarter. Three plays later, Ralph Webb scored on a one-yard touchdown run.
Four quarterbacks saw action during the game, and the foursome combined for 19-of-41 passing for 189 yards. Redshirt freshman Shawn Stankavage finished 7-of-11 for 55 yards with no interceptions and redshirt junior Patton Robinette was 6-of-12 for 65 yards and one interception.
The Commodore defense came up with a series of big plays throughout the afternoon, including five interceptions. Taurean Ferguson had two of the picks, and Tre Herndon, Ja’karri Thomas and Weatherly added one each. Oren Burks finished with a game-high six tackles, and Emmanuel Smith had three of the Commodores’ seven sacks.
“Outside, inside, I want guys to be playmakers,” said Mason. “You saw some guys make interceptions. You saw some sacks. You saw a couple of good pass rush moves. At the end of the day, I thought we were all productive. At the end of the day, it’s going to have to be a group effort for us to have success. Every coach has plays, but players make plays come alive. I thought our guys did a good job today, defensively, within the framework of what we asked them to do. We tackled pretty well today.”
Offensively, Trent Sherfield had four catches for 67 yards and C.J. Duncan added two catches for 44 yards. Dallas Rivers rushed for a game-high 31 yards on three carries.
Sophomore kicker Hayden Lekacz connected on a 49-yard field goal with 1:21 left in the third quarter.
The Commodores open the season Sept. 5, hosting Western Kentucky as head coach Derek Mason begins his second season at the helm.