Clark Lea explains mindset on providing young players with opportunities

Clark Lea has some sound logic when it comes to building up the Vanderbilt Commodores.

He knows it doesn’t all come together at once, and Vanderbilt has been steadily looking better and better since he took over the program. One of the ways the Commodores are doing it is through giving young players opportunities to grow, as Lea explained while speaking with the media.

“Obviously when you’re playing a freshman, there’s a positive in that, because you’ve got a young, talented player that’s capable of being on the field,” started Lea. “You know you’re going to take some lumps, and there’s learning that’s involved with the game reps. You benefit from that as you move forward.

“This is a developmental program. Development’s got to be the hallmark of what we do. So we’ll be at a higher launching point, and we’ll allow our young players to kind of come along and matriculate into the program.”

While Lea explained Vanderbilt will look to develop their players from Day 1, winning is always the priority for the Commodores.

“We’re still a program where this is about winning,” added the Vanderbilt leader. “It’s about getting the best eleven on the field and so we didn’t recruit anybody into this program and tell them they’re going to have a year off. We want every single player to be focused on finding a role for themselves and getting on the field. We’ll provide opportunities to compete, and it’s up to the veteran and returning players to maintain the hold on their positions and their roles in the program.

“That’s part of being developmental and competitive, is you know, we need to get the best group on the field to give us a shot at that postseason goal that we set for ourselves.”

In Lea’s first season with Vanderbilt, the Commodores went 2-10, but they upped their record to 5-7 last season, signaling some growth. Now entering his third season with the program, it certainly won’t be an easy task, but at least a bowl game is a possibility for Lea’s program in 2023.

That’s been in large part due to Vanderbilt’s ability to develop their players, as it was always going to be tough to recruit after taking over a program in dire straights and winning two games in your first season. Nevertheless, it seems as if Clark Lea and the Commodores are on their way.