The hire of Clark Lea made a lot of sense for Vanderbilt.
The Nashville native played his college ball for the Commodores before going on to work at UCLA, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame. After Mike Elko left for Texas A&M, Lea became the defensive coordinator in South Bend and did a terrific job under Brian Kelly. Now the 38-year-old has a tall task ahead attempting to make Vanderbilt football relevant again.
He’s is going about this rebuild with an interesting strategy. With the start of the season just six weeks away, only five Vanderbilt football players have earned their numbers for the 2021 season.