March 16, 2016
On campus in Nashville – The Commodores staged one of their most intense practices of Spring Ball Wednesday, working nearly two hours in Vanderbilt Stadium.
The morning stadium practice began with a “Oklahoma Drill” and featured 11-on-11 team segments, including a brief, full-contact situational scrimmage that ended the session.
“We wanted it to be more physical and we wanted to challenge both sides of the line of scrimmage,” Head Coach Derek Mason said. “I thought we did that. I saw a plenty of things to like and a lot of guys giving effort. We just have to keep moving forward and making the most of every practice opportunity left this spring.”
The Commodores will continue their push to the Black & Gold Spring Game with a morning session Friday and Saturday practice in the stadium. The concluding spring game, free to Commodore fans, is Friday, March 25, with kickoff at 6 p.m. CT.
Highlights from concluding scrimmage
The Commodores capped the practice with a 20-play, full-contact segment with the offense in possession near the goal line. Here’s some highlights from the session:
• On the first play, Kyle Shurmur (So., QB) and Darrius Sims (Sr., WR) hook up for a touchdown.
• Torey Agee (Sr., DT) stuffs Josh Crawford (So., RB) for no gain.
• Wade Freebeck (Jr., QB) and Jared Pinkney (R-Fr., TE) connect in the left corner of the end-zone for a score.
• Taurean Ferguson (Jr., CB) keeps Sims out of the end-zone with a solid tackle after catching a Shurmur pass.
• Riley Tindol (So., DT) tackles Shawn Stankavage (So., QB) for a loss as he scrambles out of the pocket.
• Stankavage fakes a handoff, rolls to the right, and scores on a keeper.
• Khari Blasingame (So., RB) scores on a punishing 3-yard rush behind effective blocks from Delando Crooks (Jr., OL), Barrett Gouger (Sr., OL) and Bruno Reagan (So., OL).
• Tindol makes another play, sacking Shurmur for a loss of six yards.
• Shurmur finishes the drill the way it starts, hooking up with Sims deep in the right end-zone for a touchdown.
Spring Game activities include great food truck options, Soles4Souls shoe drive
The list of pregame activities for the Black & Gold Spring Game includes some tasty options from some of Nashville’s top food options and a shoe drive to benefit locally based charity Soles4Souls.
Five food trucks – Bacon Nation (All Things Bacon), Bradley’s Curbside Creamery (Slow-Churned Ice Cream), The Confeastador (Tacos), Crankee’s Pizza (Wood-Fired Pizza) and Dan’s Gourmet (Mac & Cheese) – will be located on Jess Neely Drive just across from Gate 2 of Vanderbilt Stadium starting at 3 p.m., on March 25. The food trucks will be part of a block party setting that also features kids activities, live music and lots more.
For the second straight year, Vanderbilt Athletics, in conjunction with Soles4Souls, will provide shoe collection locations as fans enter Gate 2, the main stadium entrance for the spring game. The local non-profit collects shoes and delivers them across the globe. Recently, Vanderbilt athletics and Soles4Souls have teamed up for service trips to Tanzania, Costa Rica and Cuba.