Vanderbilt Football Fall Camp Position Preview: Tight End

Vandy on SI’s projected depth chart: 

Flex starter: Eli Stowers

In-line starter: Cole Spence

Flex backup: Brycen Coleman

In-line backup: Emmanuel Adebi

What to watch for: 

Here’s one of Vanderbilt’s more straightforward position groups. 

Stowers will be the flex and will likely be Vanderbilt’s leading receiver throughout the regular season. Stowers wasn’t a fall camp standout last season, but made a significant impact once the lights were on. That will likely be the case again for him this regular season. 

August will likely be similar to the spring for Stowers in that it will mostly be about maintenance. The biggest priority for Stowers will be staying healthy and ready to go for week one. As a result, Vanderbilt sophomore Brycen Coleman will take on an abundance of reps throughout camp. 

In terms of the in-line starter, that title belongs solely to Spence. The veteran tight end has been a fall camp star throughout his career in the receiving game, but made a real impact on Vanderbilt’s offense as a blocker last season. Like Stowers, Spence doesn’t have much to prove this fall. Perhaps Vanderbilt could scheme up more ways to use his receiving in game settings, but it knows what the Georgia native can do. 

In some ways it’s a similar story for Adebi, who will be used as a blocking tight end alongside Spence and when he’s not in the game. 

Vanderbilt lost talented tight end Kameran Johnson to Wake Forest this offseason and likely won’t skip much of a beat in the tight end room. Johnson will likely take on a significant role at his new stop, but wouldn’t have at Vanderbilt. That’s a testament to the room it has. 

Happy Brycen Coleman season

Coleman is a fall and spring ball star as a result of his size, athleticism and production. He’s done everything that Vanderbilt would like for him to do in those settings, but he’s got one problem. He’s behind Eli Stowers. 

It would be stunning if Coleman didn’t make a few contested catches that caught everyone’s attention and posted some numbers in Vanderbilt’s fall scrimmages that put him among the roster’s elite. 

This fall is more about Coleman doing the fundamental things and showing that he’s put on enough weight to be an effective blocker, though. The flashes have been encouraging, but that may be the thing that would finally allow him to crack the lineup. 

What’s at stake

As long as everyone stays healthy, it should be a relatively quiet fall for Vanderbilt’s tight end room. It has its two starters and doesn’t have any freshman joining the room to compete with what it has. 

The story to follow is whether Coleman continues his upward trajectory enough to convince Vanderbilt that he’s its receiving tight end of the future once Stowers inevitably departs for the NFL Draft. 

In this case, uneventful would be good.