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What to know about Vanderbilt before Alabama football’s 1st SEC road game of 2024

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What to know about Vanderbilt before Alabama football’s 1st SEC road game of 2024


Alabama football is set to make its first SEC road trip of the Kalen DeBoer era on Saturday, when it faces Vanderbilt in Nashville. The Commodores enter the game 2-2, while Alabama is coming off a thrilling win over Georgia at 4-0, and is the newly crowned No. 1 team on the AP media poll.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 3:15 p.m. CT Saturday in Nashville. The game will be aired on the SEC Network.

Before that, here’s what to know about Vanderbilt.

The coach

Weirdly enough, Clark Lea and Kalen DeBoer go all the way back to South Dakota. While DeBoer was running the show at Sioux Falls in the NAIA, Lea took his first full-time coaching job at South Dakota State, as linebackers coach in 2007.

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“I think we’re both still pretty young, if I can say that, but we were certainly young then” Lea said Tuesday. “Kalen had already built a great reputation as a head coach and I used to see him at clinics. It’s been a lot of fun to follow his career, because I admire the way that he worked his way up through the ranks.”

Lea returned to Nashville to coach at his alma mater in 2021. The Commodores have continued to struggle throughout his tenure, largely due to the innate disadvantages Vanderbilt faces in the SEC.

His best season at VU came in 2022, when the Commodores went 5-7 overall, winning two SEC games.

Prior to joining Vanderbilt, where he played football from 2002-04, he worked as the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame under Brian Kelly, a role he was promoted to after Mike Elko left for Texas A&M. Lea’s career also includes stops at Wake Forest, Syracuse, Bowling Green and UCLA.

The quarterback

After struggling to a 2-10 record in 2023, Lea and company went looking in the transfer portal. VU found quarterback Diego Pavia.

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Pavia joined the Commodores after spending the past two years of his career at New Mexico State, having started at New Mexico Military Institute. He won Conference USA’s player of the year award last season with the Aggies, helping them knock off Auburn in the process.

He’s been a bolt of lighting for the Commodores this season. Pavia, listed at a dubious 6-feet tall, 207 pounds, has thrown for 721 yards and six touchdowns so far, and has rushed for another 279 yards and two scores.

The Commodores scored a unique challenge for opponents in Pavia, who they often use in the option game. He’s the key to Vanderbilt’s offense this season, and a change of pace from anything Alabama has seen so far.

The season

Vanderbilt, as is customary, wasn’t expected to do much this season. The Commodores exceeded those expectations in their first game, beating Virginia Tech 34-27 in Nashville.

The next week, VU took down Alcorn State 55-0. After that, things took a turn.

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The Commodores lost to the Sun Belt’s Georgia State on the road in Week 3. Then it took traveled to Columbia, Mo., where Missouri was expected to crush Lea’s group.

That didn’t happen. Vanderbilt led much of the way, before the Tigers pulled off the win in double overtime due to a missed VU field goal.

Vanderbilt enters Saturday’s game off a bye week.



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Woodrow Lowe, Alabama Star Linebacker and 11-Year Chargers Defender, Dies at 71

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Woodrow Lowe, Alabama Star Linebacker and 11-Year Chargers Defender, Dies at 71


Woodrow Lowe, a three-time All-American linebacker at Alabama and an 11-year starter for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, has died. He was 71.

Lowe died at his home in Collierville, Tennessee, on Thursday, according to the National Football Foundation.

Lowe was a 2009 National Football Foundation Hall of Fame inductee. He starred at Alabama (1972-75) and was the second player in program history to make the first-team All-America list three times. He helped the Crimson Tide make the Sugar Bowl in 1973, losing to eventual national champion Notre Dame, and was a consensus All-America selection the following year.

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“Woodrow Lowe was one of the finest linebackers ever to play the game, and we are deeply saddened to learn of his passing,” NFF Chairman Archie Manning said. “A three-time All-American and one of the most decorated linebackers in college football history, he defined excellence at one of the top programs in the country.

“After his playing days, he dedicated himself to shaping young lives as a coach and mentor, carrying forward the lessons of excellence and dedication that defined his own career. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and the entire Alabama football community.”

Born June 9, 1954, in Columbus, Georgia, Lowe got his football start at Phenix City Central High in Alabama. He stayed in state for college and set a single-season record at Alabama with 134 tackles in 1973. The Tide went 43-5 during his four seasons in Tuscaloosa, and his 315 career tackles still rank fourth in school history.

A fifth-round draft pick by the Chargers in 1976, Lowe played in 164 of 165 possible games during his NFL career and tallied 21 interceptions, including four returned for touchdowns.

He coached at the high school, college, and professional levels before retiring in Tennessee. Lowe also was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame and the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame.

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Reporting by The Associated Press.



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Quilts of Valor brings comfort to Alabama veterans

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Quilts of Valor brings comfort to Alabama veterans


Quilts are warm. Quilts are comfortable. Quilts tell a story, spark memories and stand as works of art. But perhaps the greatest function a quilt can have is to bring peace and comfort to those who defend this nation. That’s the belief behind Quilts of Valor, an organization that started with a mother wanting to comfort



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Alabama Trending Towards Securing Commitment from Elite Recruit

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Alabama Trending Towards Securing Commitment from Elite Recruit


Nothing is set in stone just yet, but it’s looking like Alabama is going to build on its trenches.

According to On3 / Rivals’ National Recruiting Reporter Sam Spiegelman, the Crimson Tide are trending toward receiving a commitment from four-star 2027 interior offensive lineman Ismael Camara.

Should Alabama nab the talented recruit out of Gilmer, TX, it would be the second high-ranked interior lineman of the 2027 class.

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Earlier this season, the Crimson Tide had secured a commitment from Jatori Williams, the four-star lineman out of Phenix City, AL, and one who is the fifth ranked player at his position in the country.

Camara spoke with Spiegelman and revealed that he, along with 20 other recruits will be in Tuscaloosa for the LSU game – a game that holds such importance.

Not only that, he spoke on the relationship that he holds with offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, and how that relationship resonates with him.

“Coach Kap told me two things when we first talked — he has the best job in the world and that all the things he wants from his players are passion, a good attitude, maximum effort, being a good teammate, being prepared and available, and being coachable. That requires zero talent.”

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He then went on to say how much the persistence in maintaining that relationship is something that he will always hold onto.

“I appreciate him investing in me like that, and I am trying to get better to live up to the standard at ‘Bama.”

The “Standard” is a real thing, and it’s not something that the brass take lightly. Nick Saban spent 17 seasons implementing a culture of greatness and players that have the dog in them to be great.

So Kalen DeBoer and his staff don’t want to lose sight of it. It may have been in question for a little, but for the time being, what you’re seeing is what you’re getting.

But the “Standard” is something that means a lot to Camara too, and it’s what has set apart Alabama from other schools.

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“When we got into the facility and saw all the nattys, the SEC championships and Heisman Trophies, I really had the butterflies,” Camara said. “The way they treated each other and the way they treated me — it was not just an honor for me to be there, it was an honor for them to be there. They practiced like that. They operated like that. They hung together like that. That was when I really started to understand what makes Alabama ‘Bama,’”

Aside from it being a big game on the schedule, it’s a big game for the coaches take make sure the people they’re bringing in for the future know that the staff’s future is just the beginning for these young men.



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