Vanderbilt QB Mike Wright enters the transfer portal

With the NCAA transfer portal officially opening today, Vanderbilt took an immediate hit to its quarterback depth as Robbie Weinstein reports that Mike Wright is entering the transfer portal.

Wright entered the 2022 season as Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback, but lost the job to true freshman A.J. Swann three games into the season after an iffy performance against Wake Forest. He’d ultimately redeem himself by piloting the team to wins over SEC opponents Kentucky and Florida late in the season after Swann went down with an injury, but still, the writing was on the wall entering 2023, and he got pulled in favor of Swann in a 56-0 loss to Tennessee to close the 2022 season.

For the season, Wright went 85-of-148 for 974 yards with 12 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, in addition to 71 rushes for 517 yards and five touchdowns. That’s actually a fine performance, but going into next season his options were to be Swann’s backup at Vanderbilt, switch positions, or find somewhere else that he could start.

The hit to Vanderbilt is mostly depth at the quarterback position: I would be very, very surprised if Ken Seals returns to the team in 2023, so that will leave a pair of redshirt freshmen (Drew Dickey and Walter Taylor), neither of whom has taken a college snap, as Swann’s backups entering next season.