NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It has been a dream start to the 2022 season for Mike Wright.
Not only has the junior made national headlines with his play through two games, but, more importantly, he has led the Commodores to a 2-0 start ahead of a showdown with No. 23 Wake Forest at 11 a.m. Saturday at FirstBank Stadium.
“Me, I’ve never been a stats guy. Respectfully, when they told me I broke the (single-game touchdown) record, my (stoic) face looked immediately just like I did right now,” Wright said after Tuesday morning’s practice. “That’s really just because that’s our offense. I think it was six (touchdowns)? It takes so much more than a quarterback to score those touchdowns.
“I ran in for two, but the O-line blocked their butts off on that play and there was blocking down field. I can’t throw the ball and catch it to myself for those (four other) touchdowns, too. I feel like our offense broke a record. I truly do.”
How we feeling? pic.twitter.com/0Sv5qFT0OW
— ⁵Mike Wright₅ (@mike5wright) September 4, 2022
Wright goes into the third game of the campaign having completed 31 of his 50 throws for 391 yards and six touchdowns. He is also yet to throw an interception.
On Saturday against Elon, Wright did a little bit of everything in a record-setting performance. He threw for four scores and rushed for another two to become the first Vanderbilt player in program history to account for six touchdowns in a single game.
No Vanderbilt quarterback had thrown four touchdown passes in a single game since Kyle Shurmur did so against Tennessee in the 2017 regular-season finale. Shurmur was also the last Vandy quarterback to have at least six touchdowns passes in his first two games of a season when he threw seven in two outings to start the ’17 campaign.
But the speedy Wright is also getting it done in the ground game as the Vanderbilt offense has evolved to incorporate more option looks and designed quarterback runs. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Wright has 24 carries for 247 yards and four touchdowns this season and is the first Vanderbilt quarterback to have multiple rushing touchdowns in back-to-back games since Greg Zolman did so during the 1999 season.
Closing in on 700 career rushing yards, Wright is the eighth FBS player since 1996 to rush for a touchdown of at least 75 yards and throw for a touchdown of at least 75 yards in the same season.
“Just a little bit of offseason study, trying to form an identity of just who we want to be,” Vandy running game coordinator Norval McKenzie said of Wright’s number being called on running plays. “Mike Wright does a really good job with his feet, in addition to the running backs and a really good job by the Grease Gang (offensive line) up front. It’s forming together and we’re just trying to build an identity.”
Mike Wright on tonight’s win pic.twitter.com/mjD2LDSJxk
— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) September 4, 2022
Of course, maintaining that high level of success is going to be difficult as the competition levels ramp up over the coming week.
Wright and the Commodores (2-0) face a Wake Forest defense this week that ranked second nationally in 2021 with 14 fumble recoveries, fifth in allowing only 354 first downs and with 29 takeaways, 14th with 15 interceptions and 17th with seven tackles for loss per game.
In a 44-10 win over the Virginia Military Institute on Thursday, the Demon Deacons (1-0) gave up just 222 yards (and only 83 on the ground), made 14 third-down stops, recorded nine total tackles for loss and three sacks.
“I think they’re a really talented defense,” Wright said. “They’re really good up front, good on the back end – they’re a solid defense. We’ll prepare really well and we’ll be ready to go Saturday. I’m excited to play them.”
Vanderbilt will be looking for its first win over a ranked opponent since Oct. 19, 2019, when it knocked off No. 22 Missouri. It also has the chance to start 3-0 for the first time since 2017.
Wright insisted Saturday’s game will be treated just like any other game despite the matchup being preceded by The Paul Finebaum Show broadcasting live from campus Friday afternoon on SEC Network and Marty & McGee and SEC Nation also broadcasting live on SEC Network on Saturday morning leading into kickoff.
“Every game is a big game for us. We come out there and we expect to win every single game that we play and we expect to play at our highest level no matter who the opponent is,” Wright said. “I think there will be just more eyes on this game, naturally, with them being a pretty good team and them being ranked and everything.
“But we treat this game the same way we’ll treat every game in the future and that we have in the past.”
— Chad Bishop covers Vanderbilt for VUCommodores.com.
Follow him @MrChadBishop.
