Anchor Drop, August 10, 2021: 25 Days to Kickoff

Good morning.

Optional Musical Accompaniment

We are down to 25 days from Vanderbilt football’s September 4 season opener against East Tennessee State. 25 for the Commodores is sophomore defensive back Ryan McCord. A 6’1”, 190-pound walk-on from St. Mark’s School in Dallas, McCord appeared in three games last season and made a tackle against Florida. (This is, somehow, more than some actual scholarship players did in 2020.)

And Vanderbilt had its third preseason practice on Monday, and Clark Lea took questions from the media afterwards. Among other things, Clark Lea, who said earlier that everything must be earned in this program including jersey numbers, said that players who didn’t earn a number just had one assigned by Clark Lea. (This, perhaps, explains a quarterback wearing 38 and a wide receiver wearing 46.)

And meanwhile, the team’s Twitter account revealed the new uniforms, which are a very classic look and also notably make use of the team’s color scheme and have easily readable numbers, unlike the 50 Shades of Grey crap that the last coaching staff trotted out.

The one thing I don’t really like is the removal of the Star-V from the helmets, though copying the logo from the baseball team’s caps isn’t a bad alternative. And thankfully they’ve gotten rid of the noisy crap from the helmets we’ve seen in recent years. It’s a very simple look and I like it all things considered.

(Also, have Clark Lea and Tom Stephenson ever been seen in the same room? People are asking!)

Robbie Weinstein also recapped practice, and made the comparison.

The system is not far off from what Lea’s friend, Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin, does with his program. Corbin assigns players’ their numbers himself, whereas Lea said he chose for only those whom he did not feel came far enough this offseason.

Andrew Wilf at the Hustler makes the case that SEC expansion is actually good for Vanderbilt. I personally disagree, largely because I think this move gets us all one step closer to the Super League concept that screws Vanderbilt, but he makes good points. (It’s also good for me personally as it will give Vanderbilt two SEC opponents that are located five and a half or six hours away from me. Also, have I mentioned that I live in the middle of nowhere?)

Sports on TV

All times Central.

• 11:00 AM: Little League: Southwest Region Final (ESPN)
• 4:00 PM: Little League: Southeast Region Final (ESPN)
• 5:07 PM: MLB: Angels at Blue Jays (MLB.tv free game)
• 7:05 PM: MLB: Brewers at Cubs (MLB Network)
• 7:10 PM: MLB: Yankees at Royals (MLB Network)
• 9:07 PM: MLB: Blue Jays at Angels (ESPN+)

Also: a bunch of Little League games on ESPN+, and there’s some NBA Summer League stuff which I’m not gonna list out here because it’s the Summer League. That Southeast Region Final involves the Nolensville team that copied the Vanderbilt gangster pajamas, by the way.

Scoreboard

MLB: Cleveland 9, Reds 3 ... White Sox 11, Twins 1 ... Yankees 8, Royals 6 ... Padres 8, Marlins 3.