Vandy Limping Through the Offseason

Vanderbilt's bright skies going into the 2009 season have gotten a little dimmer the past couple of weeks.

The first major setback was former Connecticut star wide receiver Terrence Jeffers being named ineligible due to academic reasons. Coach Bobby Johnson revealed this to the public about a week ago.

Reports say that some of Jeffers's college credits would not be accepted by Vanderbilt and that he would have to take other courses. Apparently, Jeffers was not willing to do the work in the classroom.

This is a huge blow to the very weak group of receivers that Vanderbilt has. Jeffers was going to provide good hands and nice size to a core of receivers that has less than 50 career reception collectively as a unit.

The Vandy receiving unit has already suffered one great blow that happened during spring drills when they lost Justin Wheeler to a knee injury. Wheeler's career at Vanderbilt is now over.

Another unfortunate injury occured to one of Vandy's strongest units, the defensive line.

Starting defensive end Steve Stone broke his right foot during practice and will now miss as much as six weeks. He'll probably miss at least the first three weeks of the regular season.

The Commodores will have to figure out a way to replace 42 tackles and five sacks from last season.

Injuries are part of the game and they happen a lot during these intense practices leading up to the opening game.

However, Vanderbilt has never been known as a deep team. A few more significant injuries, or losses in general, could send this hopeful team back to the SEC cellar that they have gotten so accustomed to over the past few decades.

2009 Projected Starting Offense

QB: Larry Smith
RB: Jared Hawkins
WR: John Cole
WR: Alex Washington
TE: Brandon Barden
OL: Reilly Lauer, Kyle Fischer, Bradley Vierling, Eric Hensley, Thomas Welch

Note: The entire offensive line has returning starters.