Recruiting philosophy under Clark Lea / Barton Simmons

[BrentVU]

Here are some things I picked up from Barton Simmons' presentation last week at Football 101. (Recall that Coach Lea issued us all a notebook and told us to take notes-- so I took lots of them.)

1. Simmons' title is General Manager and Director of Personnel; he is OVER recruiting, among several other things. The Director of Scouting is Smoke Dixon, and there are three guys who work under Dixon who Simmons says are constantly scouring the nation for prospects.
2. The geographic area of focus is (1a) the state of Tennessee; (1b) Alabama; (2) a 4-5 hour radius from Nashville, including Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, northern Florida, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis & New Orleans; (3) major hubs with direct flights to Nashville: Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Pittsburgh, KC, Cleveland. They'd always take a great player who comes from outside of this footprint; but this is the area they're actively scouting.
3. Vanderbilt football under Clark Lea is going to be about DEVELOPING players and providing them with the tools and resources they need to develop into NFL-ready players. Thus while Georgia might take an OL who is 330 lbs. in high school, Vanderbilt is looking for the 6-6, 280-lb. lineman with athletic ability and develop him into the player they want him to be. Lea stresses that he wants to provide his players the best student-athlete experience in the country.
4. There are two must-haves for Vanderbilt recruits: academics and character; lack either one of those, and you're not getting recruited at VU. After that, they're looking for players who can play multiple positions; they will rely on multiple evaluations, and they will try to bring players in for camps, where they can get true measurables.
5. What is the biggest thing the coaches are looking for at each position?
QB - a guy who can deliver the ball accurately consistently.
RB - it's all about production at the high school level; yards, YPC, TD's.
WR - body control, ball skills.
TE - looking ideally for multisport athletes here.
OL & DT - athleticism & frame; not mass.
Edge rushers - athleticism.
LB - length, elite athleticism.
CB - ball skills; after that, size, 100-yard dash skills.
Safety - multisport background.
6. So much of what Simmons does is data-driven. He can tell you every Vandy player to make it to the NFL in the last 20 years, who offered them, and how they ranked coming out of high school. For instance: Vandy currently has 15 active NFL players; only 2 of them had 10+ Power 5 offers; TEN of them had four or less Power 5 offers. It suggests that Vandy has had more success developing the under-recruited player than it has at attracting the players with long offer lists. Being a 4-star or 5-star recruit is no guarantee of an NFL career; Vandy has had more success developing 3-star players.
7. Simmons called the transfer portal the best thing that ever happened to Vanderbilt football-- but not for the reason you'd think. "While all the other programs are fighting over the guys in the portal, Vanderbilt will be focusing on high school players and DEVELOPING them to their full potential." Not that Vandy will never take a player from the portal, he added-- his scouts do monitor it-- but they won't be making a living there.
8. Someone asked, how do you get the program to the point where it can go toe-to-toe consistently with the nation's powerhouses in recruiting? Simmons' one-word answer: "Win."

[charlestonalum]

Wonderful reporting: thanks

[alathIN]

Very interesting.

[Seadog73]

Fascinating and promising.

[Johnmn555]

Here are some things I picked up from Barton Simmons' presentation last week at Football 101. (Recall that Coach Lea issued us all a notebook and told us to take notes-- so I took lots of them.)

6. So much of what Simmons does is data-driven. He can tell you every Vandy player to make it to the NFL in the last 20 years, who offered them, and how they ranked coming out of high school. For instance: Vandy currently has 15 active NFL players; only 2 of them had 10+ Power 5 offers; TEN of them had four or less Power 5 offers. It suggests that Vandy has had more success developing the under-recruited player than it has at attracting the players with long offer lists. Being a 4-star or 5-star recruit is no guarantee of an NFL career; Vandy has had more success developing 3-star players.

I think this is the most important point. Basically none of those 15 would have been 3 or 4 year starters at elite programs and would not have made the NFL.