Clark Lea reveals starting quarterback ahead of Vanderbilt-Mississippi State

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, still in search of his first career SEC victory, announced Tuesday that backup quarterback Mike Wright will get the starting nod this week against Mississippi State.

Saturday will mark the second consecutive game in which Wright starts under center for Vanderbilt. Last week, in somewhat surprising fashion, Vanderbilt announced just prior to kickoff at South Carolina that Wright would start in place of Ken Seals. Seals had been declared out with a hand injury, though it had not been made public until kickoff.

“We’re gonna start Mike [Wright] this weekend [against Mississippi State]. We feel like that’s the right thing. [Ken Seals] is still healing up, and we’re still week-to-week with him,” Lea said Tuesday. “We want to make sure that we have the best chance to get out in front in terms of planning, and also for Mike get settled in that role. Ken has got to heal, and we’re disappointed for Ken.”

Wright finished the game at South Carolina completing 11 of his 21 passing attempts for 206 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception. He also posted 15 rushes for 41 yards.

Wright was used sparingly in his Vanderbilt career prior to Saturday; although he was Seals’ backup, the Commodores would occasionally run packages catered to Wright. The same applied last year, when both Wright and Seals were true freshmen — Seals was the starter, while Wright would sometimes appear in unique offensive sets.

Lea added that Seals will remain the starting quarterback when he makes a full recovery. A sophomore, Seals has started every game since his arrival on campus, and in 2021 he holds a 55 percent completion rate with 1,086 passing yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions. Although Lea said that Seals is still healing, he was unable to provide further context on whether Seals will be able to come off the bench Saturday.

“Not ready to declare Ken available or unavailable at this point,” Lea said. “But do know that he’s got a ways to go before he’s able to take the starting share of reps. So, we want to build confidence around a plan with Mike this week, and allow Ken the time to get healthy — not push him back before he’s ready. If he becomes available this week, then great; if not, then we’ll keep moving forward with this plan and keep checking in.”

Wright and Seals both entered Vanderbilt last season as true freshmen under then-head coach Derek Mason, and the duo stuck after Mason’s firing, now under Lea, the first-year head coach. They dueled in a quarterback battle last preseason, with Mason not announcing his 2020 starter until just before the Week 1 contest at Texas A&M. He ended up selecting Seals, while Wright had a selection of designed red zone packages for Vanderbilt to utilize.

Wright, a Woodward Academy (GA) product, was tabbed a three-to-four-star prospect out of high school. Originally committed to UCF, Wright decommitted and switched to Vanderbilt just days before national signing day. Seals was a consensus three-star recruit out of Weatherford High School (TX), and he committed in April of 2019.