HOOVER, Ala. — The way Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason tells it, his program is clearly on the rise. Following the program’s first bowl trip under Mason in his third season in Nashville, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

While the Commodores lost to N.C. State in the 2016 version of the Camping World Independence Bowl, the team’s SEC wins over Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee and a near upset on the road at Auburn displayed just how far this program has come under Mason.

“Right now, this team is on the rise, Vanderbilt is on the rise,” Mason emphatically said. “You look at recruiting to where we are at football-wise and what we’ve done on the academic side of it, that’s what Vanderbilt wants to be.”

The progression of starting quarterback Kyle Shurmur was a big reason Vanderbilt had so much success against conference opponents down the stretch, as Shurmur saved his best for last against Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Commodores QB closed the regular season throwing for 689 yards, four touchdowns and only one interception.

During his media availability in Hoover, Shurmur deflected attention away from his accomplishments and credited the overall offense for his impressive performances down the stretch.

“I think not only myself, but as an offense, we all grew as the season went on,” Shurmur explained. “I think you saw that growth throughout the year. We saw flashes at the beginning of the year that we could really do some great things.”

"Right now, this team is on the rise, Vanderbilt is on the rise. You look at recruiting to where we are at football-wise and what we've done on the academic side of it, that's what Vanderbilt wants to be." -- Derek Mason

While noting the offense’s progress heading into his third season, Shurmur realizes there’s still work to be done to accomplish the team’s goals.

“We would like to be more consistent, but I think we can build off of the end of the season,” Shurmur said. “It was really encouraging, and I think we are going to hit the ground running from week one this year.”

Shurmur isn’t the only one eyeing a hot start to the 2017 season, as Ralph Webb, the school’s all-time leading rusher, is eager to hit the ground running heading into the Sept. 2 opener at Middle Tennessee State.

“We want to compete and want to win the East just like everyone else wants to win,” Webb said. “We’ll do everything in our power to go out there and get it done. We want to start out hot this year and carry that through the entire season.”

With the plan starting to come to together for the Vanderbilt program, Mason expressed the importance of last season’s success and how that will translate into continued growth in Nashville.

“Any time you make a bowl, especially for the first time in your tenure, it’s validation of the hard work,” Mason explained. “If all you do is work hard with nothing at the end of it, it just leads to a group of young men not really understanding your vision and why we do the things that we do.

“These guys see it as a movement, they’ve gotten behind the movement. The movement has legs. … Right now we are just learning to stand up on one leg, hopefully, we can get the other leg up and start moving, keep moving in the direction we need it to go. These guys are extremely excited about where we are at. Right now, I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”