NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Three Vanderbilt defensive standouts have been named to preseason All-Southeastern Conference teams, as voted upon by the league’s head coaches. Senior lineman Dayo Odeyingbo was a second-team honoree while senior linebackers Andre Mintze and Dimitri Moore were third-team selections.
Odeyingbo, a native of Irving, Texas, earned 11 starting assignments last fall and finished with 45 tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and two quarterback pressures. His 12.0 tackles for loss paced the team and were tied for the sixth most in the SEC. He is the league’s leading returner in tackles for loss from the 2019 season. The medicine, health and society major booked a year-high 3.5 tackles for loss against East Tennessee State and posted four or more tackles in six of the last eight games of the 2019 campaign.
Mintze, a Philadelphia product, tallied 40 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, two quarterback pressures and a forced fumble. He booked a season-high six stops each against UNLV and Missouri and paced the squad in sacks last fall, including 2.0 at Ole Miss. Mintze graduated from Vanderbilt last December with a double major in cinema and media arts, and medicine, health and society.
He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in medicine, health and society. He has also coordinated Vanderbilt student-athletes’ Dancing Dores drive as part of Dance Marathon that raises money for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital on campus. The effort has raised more than $40,000 in last two years.
Moore, from Cedar Hill, Texas, played in all 12 games last fall and accumulated 99 tackles, six tackles for loss, three pass breakups and a quarterback pressure. His 99 tackles were the fourth most in the SEC last fall and tied for the 69th most nationally. He registered double-digit tackles against UNLV, Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. A cinema and media arts major, Moore booked a season-high 13 stops against Kentucky and added 11 at Tennessee.
The Commodores open the 10-game regular season at SEC foe Texas A&M on Sept. 26. Kickoff for the opener is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Alternate.
