Believe it or not but Vanderbilt is a raising program in the SEC. The Commodores have always been a doormat team to most of the SEC, but that is soon to change. I'm not saying Vanderbilt will ever be on the level of Alabama, Florida, LSU etc... but could they reach Stanford like success?
Stanford and Vanderbilt share some inherited challenges, as they both have very high academic standers and not every kid can just enroll and play football. The difference right now in the two schools is Stanford football has went from 1-11 in 2006 to 12-1 by 2010! Okay I know Andrew Luck is a once in a lifetime player for most teams and chances of Vanderbilt getting that lucky are very slim, but Stanford laid the out the blueprint to take it to the next level for schools like Vanderbilt.
The buck stops at the top Jim Harbaugh took over a team that just came off a 1-11 season and slowly changed the mindset of the team. The next part of the blueprint was recruiting. A great coach can get his team an extra win or two, but at the end of the day if you lack talent then you will lack W's. When Harbaugh took over at Stanford in 2007 their Rivals class ranking was 51st in 08 it was 50th, but as the mind set changed so did recruiting as they jumped up 30 spots in 2009 to snag the 20th best class, and by 2012 they had the 5th best class according to Rivals.com. What Harbaugh did at Stanford and was Shaw has the task of keeping up has been nothing but amazing in college football.
It’s very evident that Vandy has picked up a copy of this blueprint. James Franklin took over a team in 2011 that had just finished their 2nd 2-10 season in a row! Before Franklin the Commodores where 90th in recruiting in 2008, 09 71st, 10 61st, 11 70th. In come Franklin and his first class jumped up 44 spots to 26th and this year’s class is ranking higher than teams like Oklahoma and Nebraska at 15th! In only his second year on the job Franklin has managed to change the mind set in Nashville; took them to a bowl game; recruiting is leaps and bounds better; they have even agreed to add on to their stadium.
Yes Vanderbilt is on track to be at the same level as Stanford, but the X-factor is the SEC which Stanford doesn't have to deal with. Vanderbilt isn't going to be a 12-1 team, but 8-4, 9-3 under Franklin is only a matter of time.
Welcome to SEC football Vanderbilt
-Patrick Pierce
Follow me on Twitter @Patrickp13
No comments:
Post a Comment