Clark Lea is working to put together his first staff at Vanderbilt, and on Monday, he made a pair of key hires.

The first one is a familiar name for Commodore fans, as former Vandy WR Earl Bennett is returning to Nashville to serve as Lea’s Director of Player Development.

Also, the Commodores will hire Kaelene Curry to serve as the Director of Mental Performance:

https://twitter.com/VandyFootball/status/1358843720322355203

The release linked to in the tweet above breaks down some of Bennett’s Vanderbilt and NFL accomplishments:

Bennett, a Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2017 member, was selected in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft with the 70th overall pick by the Chicago Bears. He played five seasons with the Bears, catching 185 passes for 2,277 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Curry used to be an assistant softball coach before turning her focus to counseling:

Curry, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado, served as a mental performance coach, speaker and consultant for the Selking Performance Group for six years prior to joining the Commodores. She was also a mental health counselor with Green Couch Counseling and an adjunct professor for the sport and performance psychology graduate program Denver University.

Curry served as an assistant softball coach at Northern Colorado in 2016 before transitioning to the college counseling center from 2017-19. With the counseling center, Curry served as a mental performance coach for a variety of teams and coordinated the life skills program for a year.

Both will serve key roles on Vanderbilt’s support staff.