Takeaways from Vanderbilt Football's 45-3 win over Charleston Southern

Vanderbilt did exactly what it was supposed to 

It won’t be at the top of Vanderbilt’s College Football Playoff rèsumè if it gets where it wants to when it’s all said and done, but Vanderbilt needed to do what it did on Saturday. 

Clark Lea’s team needed to come out and flex its muscles. It needed to come out and show Charleston Southern that it wasn’t going to let it hang around for long. It needed to do what an elite team did. 

Who knows how close Vanderbilt is or isn’t to that title yet, but everything that Lea’s team wants to be called or think about itself is still in play. So are all of its aspirations. 

That’s what matters coming out of Saturday. When Vanderbilt had an opportunity to look like the Vanderbilt teams of old, this one came out and added to the idea that it’s different than those ones. It had the focus and intensity to prove it. 

Within two drives, it appeared as if Saturday night was going to be far more reminiscent of Vanderbilt’s 2024 win over Alcorn State than its clunker against Ball State, in which it let the Cardinals hang around far too long. That’s how it should’ve been for this group. 

It put its fut down and took care of business. 

Kayleb Barnett surprises

Barnett’s pure speed and quickness was on display in spurts throughout fall camp, but Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck made a statement of sorts by featuring him twice on the first drive of the game rather than holding him off to the side until things were out of hand like the consensus believed. 

The freshman receiver caught two balls on jet sweeps, turned the corner and ran for 22 yards as well as a touchdown on Vanderbilt’s first series of the season. He also demonstrated his ability to break things open on the perimeter with the ball in his hands. 

Vanderbilt will need to get Barnett involved in more packages if it’s going to use him effectively in non-buy games–which could be difficult because of his size–but his skillset plays particularly well in situations when he can rack up yards after the catch. 

It doesn’t appear as if Barnett will be a fixture in the lineup, but Vanderbilt put out some tape on him that other teams have to account for now. 

Vanderbilt appears to be quicker, more dynamic in the receiver room as a whole

If Barnett’s early snaps didn’t prove it, Vanderbilt’s improvement in the receiver room was evidenced by Division–II transfer Tre Richardson making his presence felt in the open field and catching five balls for 74 yards. If that wasn’t enough, Martel Hight’s presence and what it forced Charleston Southern to account for was convincing enough. 

Vanderbilt has more options in its receiver room than it had in 2024 and Saturday night was proof of that. 

Beck’s offense will undoubtedly have more challenging defensive backfields to face, but its receivers won the day by a significant margin in week one. 

AJ Newberry gets his moment

Newberry appears to be Vanderbilt’s third-string running back by a somewhat significant margin, but he was out there on Saturday. That was progress in itself. 

The day became a success for Newberry as Diego Pavia made the right read on an option play and Newberry walked in for Vanderbilt’s first touchdown in its newly-renovated south end zone. 

Newberry’s touchdown wasn’t all that impressive–and could’ve been ran in by any Vanderbilt running back–but served as a reminder that he shouldn’t be forgotten about in a room that appears to be transformed by the addition of MK Young. 

CJ Heard makes the first impact play of his Vanderbilt career

Heard is known for his ability to come down and hit, but his Vanderbilt debut included him laying out and grabbing an errant throw by Charleston Southern quarterback Zolten Osbourne in the first quarter. 

The Vanderbilt safety appears to have locked up a starting spot, if he can use it to make a few more plays like the one he did Saturday then he’ll be a worthwhile investment for Lea and co. 

Vanderbilt’s offensive line still has some things left to prove 

Vanderbilt invested heavily in the offensive line this offseason and appears to have the best one on paper in Lea’s tenure, but it wasn’t quite as sharp as it likely should have been in a matchup like this. 

Pavia was running for his life too often on Saturday and made the offensive line look better as a result of some evasion. It did open some holes in the run game–and had to deal with an onslaught of blitzes from Charleston Southern that appeared to throw it off–but it didn’t do enough to convince all that many people that it’s the best group Lea has had. It also didn’t do enough to convince anyone that it isn’t. 

For the issues Pavia covered up, the offensive line saw its issues come up as Vanderbilt’s end of half drive ended scoreless despite Richie Hoskins making a touchdown grab that had his younger brother waving his fist in the end zone. How does that happen? A holding penalty on Bryce Henderson and another one on Isaia Glass the next play. 

That’s the kind of stuff that can’t happen for this group when things get real. 

Blaze Berlowitz gets back to action and shows where his areas of improvement lie 

Berlowitz took over for Pavia with 31 seconds to go in the fourth quarter for his first action and nearly threw an interception in one of his first four throws. 

Saturday likely wasn’t as strong of a performance as Berlowitz would’ve hoped for. 

Take everything with a grain of salt

This is a Charleston Southern team that went 1-11 last season, after all. 

Vanderbilt did what it was supposed to on Saturday, but it doesn’t mean all that much in that grand scheme of things.