July 19, 2017
The Commodore secondary is a veteran-laden unit, featuring five starters and nine letterwinners returning from a year ago.
The unit, jointly directed by head coach Derek Mason and secondary coach Marc Mattioli, includes three proven performers at safety, a two-year starter at cornerback and the team’s top nickel back from 2016, along with several young prospects ready to show they can fill bigger roles this season.
The experienced secondary will look to create more game-changing plays this season. The push will be to garner more turnovers than a year ago when the unit forced just five interceptions among 13 total turnovers.
Three veteran safeties – first-year graduate student Ryan White, senior Arnold Tarpley III and redshirt junior LaDarius Wiley – highlight the team’s safety prospects. The trio combined for 190 total tackles and six forced fumbles in 2016.
A two-year captain, White brings a physical presence, tremendous understanding of the defensive scheme and excellent leadership to the strong safety position. He’s also coming off his best year as a Commodore, contributing 49 solo stops, 75 total tackles and two forced fumbles in 12 starting assignments.
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Tarpley III and LaDarius Wiley are proven starters at free safety. Together, they combined for 79 solo tackles, four forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries last year.
Junior Andrew Rector is expected to push for a greater role when the Commodores open preseason camp. Four relative newcomers – redshirt freshmen Frank Coppet, Zaire Jones and Austin Quillen, and true freshman Tae Daley – add quality depth at safety.
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Senior Tre Herndon, an All-Southeastern Conference-caliber performer, heads Vanderbilt’s cornerback personnel. Herndon is the team’s most experienced cornerback, having started every game for the last two years. Arguably one of the SEC’s top cover corners, Herndon returns off a solid 2016 campaign when he registered two interceptions, eight defensed passes and 30 solo tackles.
Sophomore Joejuan Williams, redshirt junior Bryce Lewis and redshirt freshman Elijah Hamilton appear to be the leading candidates to start at cornerback across from Herndon. Williams brings plenty of athletic ability to the position, and showed excellent coverage skills late in the 2016 season. Lewis earned multiple starts and was a top reserve last year. Hamilton is coming off an impressive performance in spring drills.
Redshirt senior Taurean Ferguson is the team’s top returner at nickel back. A 15-game career starter, Ferguson contributed 52 tackles and an interception last year. He will be pushed in August by junior Donovan Sheffield.
The Commodores also have several young cornerback prospects, including sophomore Gil Barksdale and 2017 signees Allan George and Randall Haynie.