“We’re Going to Show What We’re About”: CJ Heard Is Confident the Safeties Will Deliver This Season

As the Florida Atlantic Owls flew up north to East Lansing for the first game of FAU’s 2024 football season against Michigan State on Aug. 30, 2024, freshman safety CJ Heard knew what his ultimate college destination was not in Boca Raton.

The Atlanta, Georgia native originally committed to Florida State before decommitting and choosing to go to FAU. In his one season as an Owl, he had 82 total tackles, including double digit tackles in three games in his freshman year in addition to two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.

While he ended up making third-team All-American Athletics Conference, Heard had higher aspirations.

“My whole goal was to get back to the Power 4 level, I’ll say like even before the season,” Heard said. “But when I knew it was probably midseason is when I wasn’t going to be here with coaches changing.”

Florida Atlantic fired its defensive coordinator three weeks before the regular season ended. When that happened, it opened a door of opportunity for Heard. In December of 2024 Heard transferred to Vanderbilt.

Now in a new safety room where he hopes to elevate the defense and face SEC competition, Heard believes that he and the other safeties can become differencemakers. But his feelings on this fall are founded on the passing of the torch from 2024 Vanderbilt safeties CJ Taylor and De’Rickey Wright.

“CJ and De’Rickey left a good mark for us and stuff like that. But me and the other guys, man we’re gonna really show what we are about,” Heard said.

Not only does Heard feel that this year’s safety room will leave a mark going into the season after, but Heard feels the safeties this year can be one of the best in the SEC.

“We’re gonna show we’re dominant in the SEC and show our range and our physicality and our tackling. I feel like this group is going to be special because we got young dawgs, too. We got guys that are going to be pushing you everyday,” Heard said.

While losing Taylor and Wright certainly impacts the strength and depth of the safety room, guys like Randon Fontenette, Dontae Carter and Marlen Sewell and Heard are ready to step up to the plate this fall. 

It will not be easy though given Vanderbilt’s schedule. The Commodores will face four teams that ranked in the top 30 in total offense last season. Three of those four teams they will see in November this year.

For Vanderbilt’s safeties to become one of the most dominant safety groups in the conference, health is going to need to be a must. Outside of that, the Heard and the other safeties will need to work with the cornerbacks on being able to play man coverage as opposed to sticking to zone defense the vast majority of the time.

For now, Heard and the other safeties will look to continue to prepare for Vanderbilt’s first game of the season on Aug. 30 against Charleston Southern.

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