Don't Play Down to Competition | Dual-Threat QB | Texas Longhorns @ Vanderbilt Commodores | SEC

hey what's up folks uh welcome back to on Texas football I'm lifetime Longhorn Rod vs joined by fellow lifetime Longhorn the young Phenom CJ vogo we're here again for a way way way too early breakdown of the Longhorns uh season and this year we are this SE this week we're breaking down the Vanderbilt commodor breaking down uh their opponent the Vanderbilt commodor and let's just start out uh CJ um talking about really the uh football history of the commodor in the SEC and hasn't been a good one uh no winning seasons in the last 10 years just three of those since 1982 uh a mere nine alltime Bowl appearances no 10- win Seasons just four nine win Seasons two of those came under uh James Franklin and last season two and 10 10 game losing streak and they lost every SEC game by at least double digits uh so it's been some dark days there for Vanderbilt but they're making some changes Clark Lee the head coach there uh he is now going to call the defense is going to be the defensive play caller and the coordinator now and they brought on uh Jerry kill to be a consultant and I believe he's going to become kind of a special assistant to the head coach in some way and they have a new offensive coordinator his name is Tim Beck it is not the Tim Beck the Lun fans know uh but it is a a new offens a new offensive coordinator for them as well so they're making some changes trying to get this ship steered in a winning Direction and I think they really like and I do too I'm not going to lie I think they like what they have at quarterback they brought in two potential trans quarterbacks but I believe one of these guys has the upper hand yes definitely I I think that they brought in two really talented pieces at the quarterback position one of which I believe is an absolute game changer that's Diego Pavia we we'll talk about him here in a second but looking back at their roster in 20233 Rod they they started out two and0 and I think everybody you know maybe that was holding the over two and a half team total ticket was sitting there pretty happy right oh yeah we're one game away we got 10 more to go well they lost those final 10 games and ended up 10-2 to your point they were not competitive in SEC play right they lost 62 to nothing to Georgia uh they were not close with Tennessee later in the year 48-24 but you do see that at some point those 60 to nothing losses are turning into competitive losses and again they lost every game by double digits but similarly to how we're seeing or how Texas fans saw Kansas kind of turned things around in the big 12 Vanderbilt's doing it in their own way right they're recruiting a little bit better you talked about guys out of the the state of Texas Cedric Alexander a running back from Austin LBJ really talented two-way uh kind of Scat back was one of the the state's all-time leading rushers by the time he departed Dante Carter turned down a number of really talented SEC and Big 10 programs to end up at Vanderbilt out of CBO steel so they're recruiting better and I think they're doing Sol ID work out of the portal now we'll go to the quarterback position because Diego Pavia is the guy that I'm looking at right now to win that quarterback job he was at New Mexico State a year ago helped the aies upset Au on the road how often do you hear about New Mexico State going to Jordan hair stadium and defeating the Auburn Tigers I would say not too often but Diego Pavia is a legit gamer I think that's the best way you can describe him 3,000 yards through the air almost a thousand VI uh via his legs a true dual threat weapon at the quarterback position uh 60% completion percentage 26 touchdowns uh nine interceptions so he can turn the ball over at times but Rod let me tell you uh Clark Lee loves them and when we were at SEC media days that was one of the big takeaways that I had from listening to him because well let's be frank there there wasn't a whole lot to listen to him whenever he was up there speaking he wasn't a guy that commanded the the stage and the podium up there but he did say he watched that Auburn New Mexico State game nine to 10 times to get an idea of the quarterback that he was bringing in with Diego Pavia I'm a big fan of his I was able to watch a few New Mexico State games last year don't ask me why I was watching those games but uh listen he can were you betting on those games CJ did you did were you wagering on those games maybe we might have had some uh some you know extra incentives on those okay there you go no doubt no I've actually I got a chance to I went watched a little bit too when I actually did some research for uh this preview and I'm with you man I think he he improved a lot from his first year to his second year and I think it's gonna help because Tim Beck actually and I probably buried the lead there the new offensive coordinator was also his offensive coordinator at New Mexico state so they're bringing in the they're bringing the offense with him he's coming in that's why he definitely is the front runner I think to win the job over the is the Utah uh is the Utah transfer Nate Johnson I believe it's his name and he's a he's a really good athlete too but I do think there is a kind of inherent advantage to uh you know obviously Diego Pavia having the system coming in place having the same offensive coordinator and play caller there as well and Jerry kill who's gonna be on the staff we don't know exactly in what role he's a consultant but he's on the staff too and he was the head coach there at New Mexico uh state so does seem like uh that're bringing in a lot of the pieces with Diego Pavia and I like the way that he improved so I'm with you I think he could be a d especially with the offensive line I mean they they we'll get into that in a second but if you have an offensive line that can't pass protect uh they can't give the quarterback time or the pockets constantly collapsing and you need an agent of chaos uh this young man can be it he can make something out of nothing U create on the Fly improvise and I think Vanderbilt may need that and that can be a headache for an opposing defensive coordinator problem is he lost a lot of his weapons uh they lost a lot uh he lost most of their receiving core um that's the problem with teams like Von built right you do have some good weapons you're probably going to lose them via the transfer bort uh they lost uh Shepard I believe and humph two really good players basically two of their leading receivers from last season their leading receiver from last season and they got to replace those guys and they brought in some transfer portal um candidates uh who could potentially step up for them they have a Daren Wy I believe is his name they have a Quincy Skinner he's there from last season uh junior Cheryl is a young man if they really like that could potentially step up for them place a slot uh they had a Notre Dame I believe transfer they brought in uh Micah Bell uh J uh I mean they got some guys l f you might know him uh l f funju uh fi I might have gotten his name wrong I apologize from Texas Tech uh he has a transfer from Tech as well so they got some guys they brought in they brought in a lot of possible candidates but they don't really have a proven Comm a really had wide receiver yeah I think that's the big thing right you look at will Shepard and you look at London humph London humph I think who ended up at Georgia is going to be a very talented piece for the Georgia Bulldogs this year he had 440 yards receiving a year ago 20 yards per catch Rod I think that's a remarkable average at a school like Vanderbilt well you where you know there's only one maybe two pieces that can pose as a threat to you defensively will Shepard obviously the other one eight touch town so those two guys were really the two pieces that Vanderbilt had to work with in 2023 and we saw one they couldn't score all that often and when they were it was more times than not going to will Shepard or London humphers I talked about Cedric Alexander he was the leading rusher a year ago with only 370 rushing yards so they weren't averaging too much Su success really through the ground right only about four yards per carry for the two leading rushers a year ago so things have to get better there I know you're about to talk about the offensive line but I do want to mention Micah Bell talented Prospect right ended up at Notre Dame fourstar guy L fungi ended up at Texas Texas Tech fourstar Guy Texas actually teetered around and offered him at some point with him earlier during his recruitment I don't think they ever got too into the weeds with them but he's a big body threat that can get vertical uh there for the commodor so I do think going back to Diego Pavia who again I expect him to be the starting quarterback for Vanderbilt this year they have some pieces right there's no com uh you know kind of connection yet there's no real rapport with the wide receivers just yet however when you are a school like Vanderbilt you do need talent and right now I think that they did a good job of accumulating Talent out of the portal and seeing where that can get them in 2024 I don't think it'll be too far just yet but they are headed in the right direction right they can't go any lower so I will add that but D Diego Pavia to me is still going to be that starting quarterback over Nate Johnson I I I do think as long as that offensive line can give him some time they'll score more points this year than what we saw last year which was only about 20 and a half points per game which ranked really really low outside the top 100 yeah no doubt and the rushing you think was a real problem they average like 3.3 yards per Rush um as a team and they'll be trying to improve that and Pavia will just his presence alone will improve the the running game but what they lack kind of in the connection with wide receivers we talked about how they brought in a lot of the pieces from New Mexico state that's why pav has got the inside track on winning the job they also brought his tight end with him yeah um and I like I like Eli Eli stores I believe is his name right Eli stores of stars uh but he uh was with him at Mexico State actually a really good player for them three 30 at tight end 35 receptions 366 yards had two touchdowns what I like is the versatility also had 28 rushes for him um so they found some way to get him the football uh as a runner too so I don't know if they were using that Wildcat I didn't watching up film see if they were using some tight end tight end and arounds some handoffs they put him in the back field uh at times but I thought that was interesting and it a guy that was an athlete coming out right you probably remember his name yeah Texas fans are gonna know that name you know why because he ended up at Texas A&M as a quarterback prospect okay and then obviously you see the the memes the jokes about Jimbo's High School recruit at the quarterback position and you see why that's the case because Stowers uh you know obviously transferred to New Mexico state and instantly moved to tight end where actually pretty good Prospect yeah no EXC yeah I think he may end up they have some Talent there actually at tight end between stars and they also have h k I think his name is uh Co Spitz I believe is the young man's name he's six7 um hadn't really done anything on the field yet but just got I mean the size that you would covet at tight end so tight end may be a position where they have some depth there and some familiarity if uh me I think when Pavia ends up winning that certain job let's talk about the offensive line a little bit uh they had some losses on the offensive line but also they believe they gonna have a lot of demotions on the all line because they're bringing in some veterans via the transfer portal uh one of the guys is Stephen Lya he's a from Mississippi state was a center there in Mississippi State they believe he's going to end up being a starter for them uh Stephen hubard is a UTEP guard that's they got VI the transfer portal uh so they're bringing him in uh also they added uh Chase Mitchell from Liberty 64330 uh he's gonna come in believe that he's gonna be a potential starter uh they have a young man gunar Henson on the roster now the talk that I uh was able to research it there was talk of moving him from tackle to guard and then having someone else step up to be the right tackle so they they're bringing in veterans on the o line guys who have played football not for them so they the C new it and chemistry may be a problem they're bringing in guys who have played some football a lot of football at other places and I think maybe that's the route they want to go we need some guys who have actually played football at a high level who have proven themselves pretty much rather than trying to develop our own line the guys that we are the because the guys that they're recruiting and they're doing a better job I don't know if those guys would be ready developmentally in the SEC as opposed to some guys you can get VI the transfer report who have done that yeah I think that's a good point right when you look at this roster Talent in the way that it's been accumulated over the the the last year or two Rod it's it's really how many power four guys can we get from other programs who maybe didn't get the opportunity they were looking for or looking to bounce back right or you know in Diego pavia's case jump up a level right you know I think that's the way Vanderbilt's been approaching it you look at Notre Dame M Bell you look at Texas Tech Lo funi right you you mentioned the offensive lineman just now all these guys getting the opportunity to play SEC football the talent listen it's not going to be as bad as you think I I I would imagine what held them back a year ago were injuries on the offensive line and obviously quarterback play which was not great this year you mentioned the offensive line additions can they gel quickly they'll have plenty of opportunity uh to sit back and get that thing right before they played Texas right Ball State actually precedes the long horns on the Vanderbilt schedule so very similar I guess the complete opposite of Texas's schedule where they go Georgia Oklahoma back-to-back weekends and then Vanderbilt Vanderbilt will be walking into uh uh their home stadium to play Texas after facing Ball State a little bit different I would say in terms of the pre the week prior And the emotions that go into that game but at the same time that Talent has been getting better still not to the level in which I would expect them uh to compete or be a 500 teams in the SEC I do think this year they get a win in the SEC I will say that that's a big accomplishment for the Vander commor however yeah that'd be big uh yeah there is talk too and like I said don't know how much this is uh substantiated that Vander vanderbild could be rotating its tackles and guards by a strong side and a weak side combination so they can run behind best duo yeah like really I think that was something that's more of an Antiquated thing from back in the day back when you had like option football and that kind of stuff but I don't know if modern offenses do that kind of stuff so that's interesting I did I read that too let's jump to the defensive side of the ball for Vanderbilt um and you know last year they struggled um that's why Clark Lee the head coach who's a defensive guy uh from Notre Dame his background well respected defensive mind he is gonna coordinate and call the plays on defense uh third Downs they were pretty bad last year allowed opponents to convert uh close to 47% of their third Downs against Vander builds uh they were 126 in yards per play allowed uh if you go look at explosive run rate allowed they were 87th explosive pass rate allowed they were 81st they do have some good players actually and they brought him some guys get the transfer portal uh we can start in the secondary and work our way up because I think the secondary and the linebackers actually end up being the strength uh of this defense CJ Taylor uh is probably my favorite player researching for them plays the star position is a hybrid player safety linebacker but is a safety but they just they the the way they move him around they use him a lot potentially at the linebacker depth and on the defense line he actually had 10 pressures last year he has dealt with some injuries uh in his time but if you go look at it all around he's probably their best overall player about more than 50% of his snaps uh he was actually in the box or on the defensive line but can also played good in the secondary 61.8 passer rating allowed uh by him third ranked uh in coverage grade uh for safeties in the SEC so he's he's a really really good player two interceptions last season uh it kind of starts I think with him and he's also accompanied by I think another uh decent safety uh they have there and they brought in two corners via the transfer portal Mark Davis Jr who's out of Southern Illinois Marlon Jones Jr who is out of Eastern Washington two of the other Corners they brought in the other safety is dicki uh derky Wright uh so I think and those other two guys are expect to start they got some other pieces Kobe Taylor uh they brought in um and he's a uh a part-time starter there at Wyoming they brought him in TCU transfer kind of another hybrid guy you might know him Randon uh fontanet uh they brought in as another good player they got Dante Carter you talked about him there's some talk that he's gonna start as a true freshman potentially for them I think he will right I mentioned he passed up on you know Washington you know Texas some really talented programs to end up in the SEC and at Vanderbilt again they've been recruiting Central Texas in the Austin area very well over the last few years it's been pretty interesting to watch because you wouldn't expect Vanderbilt to be a formidable foe around the Austin area right yeah that's not necessarily where you'd think their pipeline would be but it's growing uh to the point you know their secondary does have talent and I don't think you saw a whole lot of that in 2023 right there 109th and yards per attempt via the so there was not much success there however you start naming some of those names right Marlon Jones Jr Colby Taylor you mentioned them right away Rod those are guys that you expect to be you know again big- time contributors for the Vanderbilt defense Dante uh Carter again a guy that I've been able to see several times now he worked out with bam performance down here in the Austin area same guy who trains Andrew makuba Michael ta galani McDonald uh again it it's very important I think right now you're going to see more athleticism in that Vanderbilt secondary than we've seen in years past however however does that matter in the end scheme of things right Texas had athleticism a year ago maybe not to the standard in which you wanted a team like Texas to have in the secondary and it didn't do a whole lot you know why because well the pass rush it was non-existent and I think that's going to be the issue for Vanderbilt once again this season they will have guys defensively but it won't be to the level again in which you expect them to compete week in and week out in the SEC and a lot of that starts with that front seven I do think that there's still a bit of a ways to go to get that ready to compete in the SEC but I will say Talent is on the rise for Vanderbilt it's all about piecing everything together and getting those trench guys where they need to go before winning and competing week in week out in the SEC yeah no you're right I like the linebackers though in that front seven they got Langston Patterson's a really good player for them had eight tackles for loss uh they got another young man a transfer came out of Notre Dame I believe Prince kie uh and they can use him on the edge you know he was actually by on three a couple years they had him ranked as a five star at one time U they got some Talent at the linebacker position and I I said they use CJ Taylor as about a hybrid they move around there so I I think the back seven could end up being the strength of the defense um I do worry that yeah I'm with you whether they can rush to passer and whether that defensive line can really be Stout against the Run uh in the interior they got Devin Lee um who's a d tackle for him uh they brought in they got Dem Marian Thomas uh C Day S sner I believe is his name there's a transfer from Purdue they brought in uh Zen Wood Middle Tennessee State transfer they brought in on the defensive line as well so that may end up being really the determining factor in whether this defense can really truly take a leap is whether a defensive line can can hold up in a line of scrimmage leap like the SEC uh couple of nuggets here about special teams for uh Vanderbilt uh they have a kicker that has never his name is Brock Taylor never kicked a field goal an extra point at the college level so that may not be good because they're gonna need a really good kicker uh and there they did get a punter transfer from Ohio State I think his name is Jesse merco look at that Rod I mean they're getting Talent from everywhere hey yeah you got to celebrate that if you're I don't care if it's a punter or not Long Snapper if you're Vanderbuilt and you get to transfer Ohio State that's pretty damn good so I'm with you uh there's there's definitely uh I think there's definitely progress happening at Vander build we'll see how much of that next season all right uh good stuff there CJ next time we're breaking down I believe oh they have a by week then we'll uh break down the Florida Gators no bye for us no by we for us just on the schedule there's a bye after that so essentially Longhorns after that really tough stretch where you get you start SEC play and you get Oklahoma and Georgia back to back at least you'll get a warm down in Vanderbilt and then you'll just get a straight up week off with the by week yeah to kind of reset things all right all right thank you guys for joining us we appreciate all the time we appreciate CJ and all of his nuggets of wisdom uh for the on Texas football family and for CJ Bogle and for myself Rod bers until next time hook him horns