Derek Mason shares what’s missing for Vanderbilt, his message to the leadership group
By Keith Farner
Published:
As Vanderbilt looks for its first win, the Commodores are also trying to find continuity following a disrupted middle of the season when the Missouri game was postponed.
The Commodores showed some glimpses last week in a loss to Ole Miss, but coach Derek Mason is looking for more, and he shared that plan with his leadership group this week.
“We just talked about being a little more calloused, in our process,” Mason said at his Tuesday press conference. “We have an opportunity this week to make it right … What it looked like for us is not what we wanted, and those guys just came me and said, ‘Coach, what can we do, what do we need to do.’ It starts with just your process.”
Vanderbilt returns to action this week at Mississippi State. Mason said the offense has made adjustments and the special teams has dealt with personnel issues, but the, “greater part of what we need to do is play well defensively.”
Defensively, Vanderbilt started the season strong against Texas A&M, but has stumbled since then with trying to slow down opponents. Mason said it becomes down to roster availability, and having time to prepare together.
“Since Week 1, it’s been five or six of the same guys at a time, but different guys playing every week,” Mason said. “The ability to have them in the same group with experience, with being able to have that group that communicates together. Football, just like most sports, it is about rhythm and timing. Cohesiveness, the ability to trust one another in that process. The experience piece is good, but when you haven’t played together enough, that timing that trust, that chemistry. We’ve been fighting to try to get back to what we went into Texas A&M with, and no excuses we’re not going to make them.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
