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Vanderbilt Commodores

Is Ralph Webb’s historic freshman season overshadowed by Vanderbilt’s struggles?

Jason Hall

By Jason Hall

Published:

Ralph Webb is the most consistent player on Vanderbilt’s roster. I’ve said it countless times since taking on the duties of covering the 3-6 (0-5 SEC) program earlier this season, but its true. Webb is coming off a career-best 166-yard game against Old Dominion, a crucial part of a convincing 42-28 victory.

The redshirt freshman leads the Commodores with 760 rushing yards and is just 38 shy of tying the late Kwane Doster’s Vanderbilt freshman rushing record of 798 yards set in 2002. With three games remaining, Webb is 433 yards shy of tying Zac Stacy’s single-season record of 1,193 yards set in 2011.

But Webb has received little media attention this season as his team has struggled through a tough SEC schedule. Vanderbilt opened its first season under head coach Derek Mason with a blowout loss to Temple, which began the team’s quarterback carousel.

Three players– including current starter Johnny McCrary, who didn’t return until Week 7– made appearances under center during the loss. Vanderbilt would start each quarterback by Week 9, the only SEC team to do so.

Still, despite his team’s otherwise ineptitude on offense, Webb has flourished through a breakout freshman campaign. However, his inevitable record-breaking season isn’t as high a priority as his team’s success.

“I think Ralph is not concerned with the individual accolades,” Mason said Saturday after Vanderbilt’s win. “I think he’s concerned with the overall mind-set of this group and this unit to push towards the direction that we want to go.

“Records are great, man, but you give it all up for team continuity and team wins. Tonight was a team win, and if we can do that in the midst of team wins, I think it means more to him that way than it does individually.”

Still, Webb’s season deserves more credit than it has been given thus far. The redshirt freshman is on pace to have a stellar career at Vanderbilt and should go down as an all-time great tailback for the Commodores. Webb will remain a key player in Vanderbilt’s rebuilding process as the feature back moving forward.

Jason Hall

A former freelance journalist from Nashville, Jason covers Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky

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