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After several quiet weeks on the recruiting trail for the Commodores, it's no coincidence that the team's most recent verbal commitment comes just days after the first SEC win of the Mason Era. This new age of football in Nashville is no longer just the "post-Franklin" era. Mason is making his mark in his second season as the head coach. The newest commit, Braden Kopp,was at the game this past weekend, and many recruiting insiders had believed it was more of a when, not if on when he was going to commit to the Commodores. He announced the decision on Twitter yesterday:
I'm proud to say I have committed to play football at Vanderbilt! #AnchorDown #Select16 #SEC pic.twitter.com/8MdizqnJeZ
— Braden Kopp (@wbkopp_42) October 28, 2015
Kopp is a big, physical offensive lineman (6-foot-6, 285 pounds) coming to the state of Tennessee from Houston Christian High School is Houston, Texas. He chose Vanderbilt over offers from Rice,Tulane, Harvard and several others. Kopp also had been receiving growing interest from Michigan State, Oklahoma State, and local Texas Tech. He is rated as a 3-star prospect, according to 247Sports.
Kopp is going to fit in nicely to this team next season, and it has become clear that protecting the QB (McCrary, Shurmur, Deuce, whoever) is going to be placed as a definite priority going forward. Also, the never-ending debate continues for the Commodores when it comes to recruiting out of state, but no matter what, if Coach Mason and his staff can build a pipeline in the state of Texas, that could pay huge dividends going forward.
Kopp is just the latest member of the #Select16 and I expect this staff to continue to send out offers for the 2016 class, and when they do keep it here at Anchor of Gold for the latest!
Check out Kopp's highlights, courtesy of Hudl: