When ESPN.com’s band of recruiting gurus ranked the 65 Power 5 programs from easiest to toughest recruiting jobs, Georgia was No. 1. Not much of a shock; we’ve talked about Georgia being the place for most of the SEC programs to find their best prospects.
But way down at No. 58 — behind Utah, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oregon State, Duke and Indiana, among others — is Vanderbilt.
When ESPN.com’s Travis Haney and Adam Rittenberg ranked the best-to-worst college football jobs from 1-129, Vandy ranked 72nd — behind San Diego State and Colorado State, among others. The only Power 5 schools rated worse were Wake Forest (75), Iowa State (76) and Kansas (77).
Comparing Vanderbilt to other academically-strong private schools, it was far behind Notre Dame (11), Stanford (20), Duke (52) and Northwestern (59).
Football (and athletics in general) isn’t the highest of priorities at Vanderbilt. That’s understood.
James Franklin had success in his short stint at Vanderbilt. He did it with a lot of bells and whistles and helicopters and other gimmicks to get his name in the paper. It worked to the tune of a 24-15 record with three bowl appearances in three seasons. Franklin is a charming, charismatic figure and he appealed to recruits. He also left the program at the first sign of controversy.
Derek Mason carries himself much differently. He is reserved and serious. He hasn’t matched Franklin’s success, but if you watched the Commodores in 2015 they weren’t always an easy team to beat. In several games they were a play or two away from pulling some head-turning upsets.
After breaking down the program’s recruiting under Mason, it’s hard to notice any sort of trends. But here are a few things that stuck out
THEY RECRUIT EVERYWHERE
Vanderbilt isn’t super active with in-state prospects, only drawing 10 total signees from Tennessee in three seasons. Mason had four Califonia prospects in his first recruiting class with Vandy but hasn’t hit the Golden State as much since then. Instead of focusing on going so many places, Vanderbilt should probably focus on Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Jersey, Washington D.C., and Ohio.
The coaching staff should be much more active with the top private school programs along the eastern seaboard as well. Programs like St. Thomas Aquinas and Plantation American Heritage in South Florida and Don Bosco Prep and Bergen Catholic in New Jersey.
Vanderbilt is the only program SEC program located in the heart of big city. Nashville should appeal to players from larger areas like South Florida and Washington, D.C., and Houston, Texas.
Nashville might not have the “college-town” experience that Athens, Ga., has, but it’s a fast-growing city with great restaurants, the best live music scene in the world, two professional sports teams, etc. It’s not going to appeal to the prospect that wants the college program to be the focal point of the city, but to prospects from larger areas it provides a little more of what they are comfortable with.
EMBRACE THE ‘STANFORD’ STYLE
Before taking the Vanderbilt job, Mason was the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh and David Shaw. He wants Vanderbilt football to be Stanford of the SEC — for better or worse. He wants the team to be based around power football on offense and a defense that wins with physicality and discipline.
Well, the SEC is the ultimate power league. Every program has big linemen and tough running backs and plays with physicality. Vanderbilt could never bully its way to 10-win seasons like Stanford does in the Pac-12.
However the Commodores can continue to emphasize building and developing strong offensive lines where five guys play as one and recruiting tough, slightly underrated running backs like Ralph Webb who can take a pounding in the first half and deliver a pounding in the second half.
It isn’t always going to be a pretty style of football, but it can get Vanderbilt back into bowl contention and it will help to counter some of the disadvantages the Commodores generally face with conference competition.
BE AGGRESSIVE WITH SATELLITE CAMPS
Because Vanderbilt doesn’t particularly focus on one region and doesn’t spend what others do on recruiting, conducting satellite camps in non-SEC regions is a must.
Expect Vanderbilt to be part of satellite camps on the west coast, where Mason would love to find some recruiting gems from California. Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey would also be smart places to set up camp opportunities.
Academics forces Vanderbilt to be selective in recruiting. Satellite camps give the program an opportunity to expand its reach without overstretching the budget restrictions.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
