Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
By Chris Marler
We conclude our series by spotlighting one underrated positive for each SEC team. Today, we head to Nashville to focus on the Vanderbilt Commodores heading into the 2026 season.
Ricardo Jones in the secondary
A majority of the offseason talk about Vanderbilt has been about one name and one name only, Jared Curtis. That’s very deserved. It’s not often that a five star quarterback ranked in the top three nationally decommits from Georgia and flips to Vanderbilt. Curtis has big shoes to fill. Well, maybe that’s not the best analogy since I can only assume that Diego Pavia was a size nine or so. Still, you get the point.
The official Heisman Voting list:
1. Fernando Mendoza
2. Diego Pavia
3. Jeremiyah Love
4. Julian Sayin pic.twitter.com/kRghjBNgIo— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) December 14, 2025
The offense will most likely take a step back with what they’re losing. It will be hard to replace a Heisman finalist and the best tight end in the country, Eli Stowers. The story for the success in 2026 however, will come on the other side of the ball. Good news for Commodore fans, all 12 of them, is that Clark Lea is a defensive coach. Even better news is that he loaded up on defense in the transfer portal.
The ‘Dores took 18 players in the portal this offseason. Eleven of those players were from Power Four schools and eight were defensive players. They beefed up the defensive line with four star Brian Allen Jr. from Iowa and got former four star recruit CJ Jackson from LSU to rush the passer. The player we aren’t talking enough about is in the secondary.
Clemson safety Ricardo Jones could be a star in the back end of this unit. We talked to Corey Burton from LockedOn Commodores and his exact words were that the addition of Jones makes this defense “potentially very dangerous.” Jones is a former four star recruit out of high school and a top ten player at his position before he committed. He began his career at Clemson.
The highest-graded SEC newcomers via the transfer portal, per PFSN’s Impact metrics:
🛬 Byrum Brown, QB, Auburn – 88.7
🛬 Raleek Brown, RB, Texas – 86.7
🛬 Ricardo Jones, S, Vanderbilt – 85.7
🛬 Rasheem Biles, LB, Texas – 85.2
🛬 DJ Coleman, S, Florida – 85.1
🛬 Christian… pic.twitter.com/oUlupwcTa0— PFSN College (@PFSNcollege) January 16, 2026
The 2025 campaign was his second year in school and his first year as starter. How did he respond? He finished with six interceptions, three PBUs, and 39 tackles. The six interceptions led the entire ACC. Vanderbilt’s pass defense was horrid last year finishing dead last in the SEC at 249 ypg allowed. They were also 13th in the league in interceptions with just eight on the year. Jones almost had that total by himself. That’s something not enough people are talking about heading into the 2026 season.
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