Signs of improvement are everywhere. Going into the 2024 football season, Vanderbilt’s mammoth $300 million renovation of FirstBank Stadium is about half finished, with the impressive transformation of the north end zone ready to make its gleaming debut on ESPN Aug. 31 with the home opener against Virginia Tech (11 a.m. CDT).

The same might be said for fourth-year Vandy coach Clark Lea’s mammoth rebuild of the beleaguered football program, which has compiled a record of 9-27 overall and 2-22 in the Southeastern Conference on the Nashville native’s watch at his alma mater.

Lea’s job of making the football program relevant again admittedly isn’t as far along as planned, but – like the stadium overhaul – there are visible signs of improvement everywhere, both on and off the field.

In addition to Lea revamping both his coaching staff and the weight room training program, Vanderbilt for the first time has fully embraced both the transfer portal and the name, image and likeness (NIL) law which now allows student-athletes to monetize their fame by promoting companies and/or causes.

The result, Lea notes, is that Vanderbilt has 53 new players on its roster who weren’t here a year ago and that “of our 120 players, 106 have been recruited into my vision for success at Vanderbilt. This will be the first season in which the majority of the team signed up for the mission we’re on, which is a long way from the initial team of 98 we fielded in 2021.”?

Lea candidly discussed the ways Vanderbilt has “shed the mindset of our past” and how other teams had widened the talent-pool gap by taking advantage of college football changes while the Commodores did not.

Has Vanderbilt, under fourth-year coach Clark Lea, improved enough to compete in tougher SEC?

-- Vanderbilt Athletics

“This is required that we fully embrace changes in the college football landscape and actively participate in both the transfer portal and NIL. Falling behind in those spaces erased much of the progress we made in our first two years,” Lea says.

“As I stated in the past, it’s impossible to function in the portal without resources, and it’s taken time for us to build the infrastructure that allows us to both retain our team and be competitive in that market.

“Without (athletics director) Candice Lee’s support and competitive toughness, we would still be stuck in our old strategy. As it is, we’ve been able to adjust and adapt, and though we still have a ways to go, we’re in a much better position to support our team now than we were a year ago.”

NIL, portal shift help on field

Vanderbilt’s improvements on and off the field are as obvious as those with the FirstBank Stadium project, say two veteran Nashville media observers. But the on-field improvements could not have happened without the all-in approach to NIL and the transfer portal.

“There’s no question that, yes, Vanderbilt is going to be competitive in the Southeastern Conference. They have started working their way through name, image likeness and through using the transfer portal,” says current sports talk show host Doug Mathews, a much-traveled defensive coach who played fullback for the Commodores 50 years ago.

“Those are the two key issues now, really for every program in America. But if you’re going to be a league like the Southeastern Conference, then you’re certainly going to have to do that,” Mathews says. “But from everything I’ve gleaned, they are probably behind in that area. Again, the transfer portal area, in particular, that goes through the university.”

This year’s players are nearly all Clark Lea recruits, placing even more pressure on the fourth-year coach.

-- Vanderbilt University Athletics

WTVF sportscaster Steve Layman, whose seven-part “Paid to Play” series recently aired on NewsChannel5, says Vandy’s full embrace of NIL and the portal will give coaches in all sports of competing on the field and in recruiting within the ultrapowerful SEC, which this year expands from 14 to 16 teams.

“I think Vanderbilt realized that and they stepped up to the plate in a big way the last year. I still don’t think they’re on par with the elite programs in the SEC,” Layman says, mentioning Tennessee, the Alabama and Georgia, “but they have definitely elevated their game where at least they’re playing it now and hopefully for their sake that really benefits Clark Lea and (new men’s basketball coach) Mark Byington as he tries to build his program.

“Barring a quarterback that’s transcendent or something like that, I don’t think two or three guys could make that impact in football. “You still have to have depth, guys to play in the line and on the edges and the quarterback and all that. But in basketball, two or three guys can take you from an average or below average team to an NCAA tournament team pretty quickly.”

Better, but enough to notice?

Mathews says he’s watched the Commodores practice this fall and while noting the Commodores are “a more athletic team,” quickly adds, “It remains to be seen if they’re a better team. There’s no doubt that they are a more athletic team. I think the big question mark is at the quarterback position. They do not have a returner there.”

Mathews says the coaching staff is high on its transfer quarterbacks battling for the starting position during fall camp.

Junior linebacker Langston Patterson says he stayed because of his faith in Lea.

-- Photo By Wade Payne | Ap

“It kind of all starts in today’s football at every program at the quarterback position, obviously. That’s just the key, that you have to have a quarterback that can actually execute whatever your offense is,” Mathews says.

“Vanderbilt has had a little bit of difficulty at that position the last few years. It has not been a position of strength for them. Overall, I think it’ll be a more athletic team. I think from a depth standpoint, this will be Coach Lea’s best group.”

Lea and his players understand the challenges ahead, particularly the SEC portion of the schedule which includes October home games against longtime league powerhouse Alabama and newcomer Texas, both of which made it to the College Football Playoffs a year ago.

Coming off a 2-10 record (0-8 SEC), Lea says he won’t abandon his long-term goals for the program but will embrace “a more short-term strategy of winning football. This is the reality of our game now, what winning requires of us. I’m proud of the efforts we made to position our program to get back on track. I believe wholeheartedly in the mission we’re on,” he states.

Fall practice has been intense with numerous ongoing position battles. None are being watched more closely than the battle at quarterback. Lea says a starter won’t be officially named until the Virginia Tech opener.

Graduate Diego Pavia, a New Mexico State transfer, is the one to watch, throwing for 2,973 yards and 26 TDs last season. Also getting hard looks are Utah junior transfer Nate Johnson, New Mexico State sophomore transfer Blaze Berlowitz and junior Drew Dickey, a four-star prospect when he signed with the Commodores.

“Diego brings experience, competitive edge. We’ve already felt his presence in our locker room. There is a quarterback competition we’re undergoing right now, and that will be true up until we play Virginia Tech,” Lea says.

Pavia’s advantage is that he’s familiar with the system of new offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who was head coach at New Mexico State a year ago.

Offensive lineman Steven Hubbard, a 6-3, 330-pound graduate transfer from Texas-El Paso, says he’s gotten tight with Pavia in the short time they’ve been with the Commodores. He says they play with an underdog mindset.

“Diego, he’s my boy, man. He played (in) Conference USA, too. We’ve got that connection,” Hubbard says. “Even though I’m here, bigger schools look down on smaller schools. So it just automatically put a chip on my shoulders.”

Add senior safety CJ Taylor: “The mindset is go in there with a chip on your shoulder. Obviously, I know that we’ve improved. That’s for to us put on display when we play Virginia Tech.”

Defensively, Lea will take over as coordinator along with his head coaching duties. He was defensive coordinator at Notre Dame before rejoining his alma mater.

“He’s one of the big reasons that I stayed at Vanderbilt, just being able to play for him and his defense,” junior linebacker Langston Patterson says. “He’s the only person at Vanderbilt that I think wants the program to win more than I do.

“He’s really detailed it down and tightened up our structure into something that’s awesome to play for … it’s our job to go execute it. We have the players this year to do that and I’m super excited for what’s to come this fall.”

Spotlight also on stadium

Besides the revamped Commodores, fans will also be getting their first glimpse of the refurbished FirstBank Stadium’s north end zone. There’s a giant LED video board and sound system atop the facility, concessions have been upgraded and the overall fan experience has been a driving force.

“We’ve come a long way since, you know, the dust bowl and scoreboards on cranes. It’s just exciting, and I’m sure you guys can, too. It was cool to be out here at night and I think the guys enjoyed that experience,” Lea told reporters after the first fall scrimmage.

“But we’re going to be part of the wave August 31st with the north end’s being complete. I can’t wait for the south end to be up and to really feel what this place is going to feel like when it’s all said and done.”

Patterson agrees it’s great that amenities are being improved but knows it’s on the players to keep fans in the stands all fall.

“We kind of say ‘stadium shmadium.’ We don’t care where the ball is snapped. We just want to go out and play football. We want to be a team that’s respected in the SEC,” he says. “Honestly, it was fun to watch teams come in (last season) and be like, ‘Where’s the locker room; you don’t even have an opposing locker room?’ I think we stuck them out in the construction zone a little bit. But we kind of just used that to our advantage.

“But this year the north end zone is going to be done and the south one will be done the following year, and it’s up and coming. I think it’s something this year that teams are going to come in and it’s kind of modern and it’s really cool and it’s first-class, and I think they will be impressed.”

Just like the Commodores. Up and coming, hoping to impress.