Game 1: Virginia Tech (0-0) at Vanderbilt (0-0)
When: Saturday, Aug. 31 • 11 a.m. CT
Where: FirstBank Stadium • Nashville, Tenn.
Watch: ESPN (Roy Philpott, Sam Acho and Taylor Davis)
Listen: 102.5 The Game (Andrew Allegretta, Norman Jordan and Kevin Ingram)
Lift The Lid
• Vanderbilt opens its 135th football season on Saturday, hosting Virginia Tech at FirstBank Stadium. The Commodores have won their season opener each of the last two seasons. It marks the first lid-lifter against a nonconference, Power 4 team since 2010 when the Dores opened against Northwestern. Vandy opened against SEC teams in both 2019 (Georgia) and 2020 (Texas A&M).
New Look: The Staff
• Clark Lea, a 2004 Vanderbilt graduate, enters his fourth season at the helm of the Commodores with new faces joining the staff. Lea takes over defensive coordinator responsibilities, while Tim Beck is the team’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Other new staff members include Jerry Kill (chief consultant to the head coach/senior offensive advisor), Jeff LePak (special teams coordinator and tight ends), Ghalli Muhammad-Lankford (run game coordinator and running backs), Melvin Rice (safeties), Jamaal Richardson (cornerbacks), Chris Klenakis (offensive line), Steve Gregory (senior consultant/associate defensive coordinator) and Seth Payne (senior defensive analyst/pass rush specialist). Outside the lines, Lea welcomed new director of football sports performance Robert Stiner to oversee strength and conditioning efforts, as well as assistant football sports performance director Ian Bures.
New Look, Part II: The Roster
• Vanderbilt’s roster features 51 new student-athletes who were not part of the team in 2023. There are just 12 players remaining that did not originally commit to fourth-year head coach Clark Lea and staff. The 2024 recruiting class included four four-star commits and gave Lea’s three signing classes the highest three-year average recruiting ranking for Vandy in over a decade.
• Incoming transfers include 2023 Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year Diego Pavia at quarterback, as well as 47 career starts on the offensive line (Steven Losoya, Chase Mitchell, Steven Hubbard) and 32 career starts on the defensive line (Zaylin Wood, Khordae Sydnor).
New Look, Part III: The League
• The Southeastern Conference enters its 16-team era this fall with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas. With the new teams, the SEC has eliminated the east and west divisions which had been in place since 1992. As a result, Vanderbilt will host Alabama for just the second time since 2007, visit LSU for the first time since 2009 and travel to Auburn for the first time since 2016. Tennessee (118 previous meetings), Kentucky (96 previous meetings) and Missouri (have met annually since Tigers joined the SEC in 2012) appear on the schedule.
• On the flip side, Vanderbilt will not face Georgia for the first time sine 1967, Ole Miss for the first time since 1969 and Florida for the first time since 1991. All 14 returning members of the SEC face either Texas or Oklahoma this season, with the Dores slated to play Texas on Oct. 26 at FirstBank Stadium. Vandy leads the all-time series with the Longhorns, 8-3-1, but the sides have not met since 1928. In 2025, the SEC opponents will remain the same eight teams, flipping the home and road match-ups.
New Look, Part IV: The Stadium
• Progress continues to march forward with the Vandy United project as FirstBank Stadium evolves in 2024. This fall will see the debut of new premium seating in the north end zone, a building which will primarily be the operations home of Vanderbilt’s men’s and women’s basketball teams. Atop the building sits a new video board and sound system for the seating bowl.
• In addition, most of the structural work is done in the south end zone for spaces which include new premium seating (opening 2025), new football game day locker room and a new dining facility for all Commodore student-athletes. The south end zone will also feature a secondary video board for the seating bowl.
Not All New
• While Vanderbilt features plenty of new faces, the Commodores return several key players from last season’s team including their leaders in rushing, tackles, interceptions, tackles for loss, forced fumbles and blocked kicks.
• Junior linebacker Langston Patterson led Vandy in tackles (74) and tackles for loss (8.0) last season. Senior safeties CJ Taylor and De’Rickey Wright were tied for the team lead in interceptions (two) and forced fumbles (two) last fall. Patterson and fellow linebacker Bryan Longwell each blocked a kick.
• Offensively, running back Sedrick Alexander led the Dores in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. In addition, Gunnar Hansen returns on the offensive line having started the last 18 games with 1,400 career snaps played.
