Four years after the Clark Lea experiment began at Vandy, the Dores still have just two overall wins in the SEC. However, a 5-7 record in 2022 resulted in Lea being extended through 2029, so they must like something. Still, 2023 was terrible, and while they look bolder this year with the improved offense, they still lost to Georgia State and gave up 36 points to the Sun Belt team.

Vandy has given up an average of 36 points per game over the last three years, good for the bottom 10 in the country. So far in 2024, they have given up just 23 points per game – a perfectly average defense. Of course, it’s a small sample size supported by Alcorn State… but still, it seems like an improvement over previous seasons.

What’s different? Well, Lea demoted his defensive coordinator after two poor seasons and has now taken over the duties as both head coach and DC. Lea was a pretty well-respected DC for Notre Dame before this head coaching job, so it’s no surprise that he’s taking over – and with new OC Tim Beck bringing his proven performance, I suspect Lea is pretty much staying out of it too the path of offense.

Vandy features a fairly standard nickel 4-2-5 base defense with a heavy emphasis on deeper zone coverage. Much of what they do involves covering 6-based with one corner playing short and one corner playing on the deep sideline, but they run through most types of zones with some regularity. The only real constant is that there is a heavy emphasis on eliminating the deep ball.

Middle linebacker Langston Patterson is the energy driver of the entire unit. He led the team with 74 tackles and 8 TFLs last year and is tied for the lead with 29 tackles so far this season. He is often used on delayed blitzes to slip through open gaps on 3rd downs, and he is very active in the running game, both up the middle and chasing plays down the sideline.

His running mate at weakside linebacker, Bryan Longwell, is also an experienced blitzer and leads the team with 4 TFLs and 1.5 sacks.

The defensive line is primarily made up of space eaters rather than playmakers, and nose tackle De’Marion Thomas is the roomiest of the eaters at 330 pounds, doing his best to accommodate 2-3 blockers when possible while Patterson and Longwell work around him .

In the secondary, former Alabama recruit De’Rickey Wright returns for his fourth season starting for Vandy (man, it feels like his recruitment was a decade ago. At 230 pounds, he was always a lock at safety different body type, but he’s stuck in. He’s done it the last four years and is a preseason All-SEC player (4th team). He’s a great tackler who has surprising range for his size and in the running game can definitely compensate for many errors.

Ultimately, there aren’t many names on this defense with any sort of national attention. However, there are a surprising number of young players in the starting lineup, which could bode well for the future of the Vandy defense after this season.

While they did a great job against Missouri, it’s hard to imagine the Commodores having any schematic or positional group advantages against Alabama. They’ll be determined to prevent the Milroe deep ball, and the Tide may need to recalibrate the passing attack there a bit. And the middle linebacker’s frequent attacks will serve Milroe well to prove he can continue to punish, unlike some of his struggles in that area a year ago.

Ultimately, it’s hard to imagine Alabama scoring less than 42 points unless they mess around and commit some stupid turnovers or something. The Dores will probably make a play in the first quarter or so, but Alabama pulls away unstoppably and ekes out a relatively easy win.