A former walk-on helped Vanderbilt land its first in-state recruit of this signing class. And it came on Tuesday night for an outside linebacker from Nashville.

Brayden DeVault-Smith, listed at 6-3 and 205 pounds, got the call from Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason, after he was originally expected to walk-on at Vanderbilt. It was notable that the first in-state commitment came in the 11th hour of a class of 20 players who hailed from 11 states. Mason has said the high academic standing of Vanderbilt played a part in the recruiting footprint.

Vanderbilt’s 2017 signing day class is the fourth under Mason, and it follows the Commodores’ first bowl appearance in his tenure. While Mason claimed the Tennessee and Georgia wins, and bowl berth, gave the program a boost, it was difficult to see it materialize in the class attributes.

“It carried over, no doubt,” Mason told reporters. “The season definitely propelled us forward.”

Though perhaps some things have already changed.

“Now when you go out,” Mason said, “People understand your brand a little better.”

SEC class rank: 14
Overall class rank: 63

5-stars: 0
4-stars: 0
3-stars: 17

Perhaps more than other teams who establish highly-rated signees earlier, it will be difficult to see the impact of this class for a while. Last year, for example, the Commodores were also ranked last in the SEC (No. 53 overall) in 2016, while this year, the academic heavyweight dropped to No. 63 nationally. Though Mason could have foreshadowed that early playing time could change.

“Hopefully some of these (newcomers) can be explosive from the start,” he said. “And that’s our expectation.”

However, it lacked a 4-star and the Commodores late push in Hawaii for linebackers and defensive end yielded just 3-star Feleti Afemui, an inside linebacker, and Jonah Buchanan, a defensive end, who was not rated. The third-ranked recruit from Hawaii, Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa, a 3-star defensive end, ultimately went to Notre Dame. Still, Vanderbilt appears to have an inside track in the Aloha State.

“We’ve got a niche over there,” Mason said. “We want to push the Poly pipeline, because it makes sense.”

The class will be known for 6-4 quarterback Jacob Free of Brantley, Ala., and Illinois transfer Ke’Shawn Vaughn, a running back and Nashville native, who played in 22 games in two seasons with the Illini.

Overall, the Commodores signed eight linemen combined offense and defense.

Two wide receivers were notable to Mason because of the frame of Chris Pierce and James Bostic, Jr., 6-4 and 6-3, respectively.

“We needed to get longer to make things easier for our quarterback,” Mason said at his Signing Day press conference. “And we’ve done that.”

Vanderbilt has landed the younger brothers of defensive end Dare Odeyingbo and tight end Jared Pinkney. Speaking of brothers, early enrollee Dimitri Moore, a linebacker, is from Cedar Hill, Texas, and the younger brother of Texas A&M linebacker Richard Moore.

Odeyingbo, Pinkney and Stone Edwards will be among the players with the best chance of playing early, Mason said.