Virginia
How Virginia Tech game will provide insight on Clark Lea’s Vanderbilt football rebuild
In 2023, coach Clark Lea didn’t do enough to help Vanderbilt football evolve the way he intended, he said Tuesday at his media availability.
That team finished 2-10, with the two wins coming in the first two games of the season. The Commodores lost all their games against Power Five competition by double digits.
Virginia Tech, the Commodores’ opponent on Saturday, started 2-4 with losses to Rutgers, Purdue and Marshall before finishing 7-6. New Mexico State started 2-3 and finished 10-5. Among a slate of wholesale changes in the offseason, Lea brought in former Aggies head coach Jerry Kill, offensive coordinator Tim Beck and quarterback Diego Pavia.
“A team that improves through the season is a testament of a good coaching staff, and I think it was a measure of my performance as head coach,” Lea said. “I thought that last year, it wasn’t for lack of trying, I just never found the formula to get that group to go beyond the performance we delivered.”
Although improvement through the season is somewhat of a litmus test for Lea, 2024 starts with an important game right off the bat. In the Hokies on Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN), Vanderbilt will be facing a bowl team from a year ago. To have any hope of getting to six wins, the Commodores will likely need to defeat Virginia Tech.
During the 2021 season, Lea’s first, the team also finished 2-10. But Lea said he felt there was hope at the end of that season, and in 2022, Vanderbilt started 3-6 before winning two games in November to get to 5-7 − albeit with a crushing loss to Tennessee at the end.
“If I were to share a disappointment that I had, outside of the pain of the results from last season, it would be that I didn’t do enough to get our program to evolve into change,” Lea said. “And it just felt like we could never get that team to the performance that we were proud of, and we suffered because of it. So I’m really interested to start the season. I certainly would love to get off to a great start, that would obviously be a lot of fun.”
Lea took over as the defensive coordinator himself after firing Nick Howell. Lea said that calling the defense himself has been one of his most fun times. With Lea focusing more on defensive duties, Kill has been designated the de facto “head coach of the offense,” with Beck calling plays there.
It will be weeks or months before we truly know how well Lea’s rebuild has worked, but as Lea knows, Saturday against the Hokies will be a big clue as to how 2024 will go.
DIEGO PAVIA How Vanderbilt football transfer Diego Pavia’s unrelenting competitiveness landed in Nashville
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.
(WSET) — Virginia State Police has issued a senior alert on behalf of the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday.
According to VSP, the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office is looking for Gregory Dale Jordan.
VSP describes Jordan as white, sex: male, age: 63 years old, height: 6’0”, weight: 210 lbs., with green eyes and white hair.
According to VSP, Jordan was last seen on Wednesday on Sunburst Road in Campbell County. His clothing description is unknown. He has a long white beard. He is believed to be on foot.
SEE ALSO: Bullet found in stray dog’s neck during surgery at Lynchburg Humane Society
The missing senior suffers from a cognitive impairment, and the disappearance poses a credible threat to their health and safety, as determined by the investigating agency, VSP said.
You’re asked to contact the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office [24/7 dispatch] with any information regarding their whereabouts at (434) 332-9574, VSP said.
Virginia
West Virginia commit announces decision by blasting ‘Country Roads,’ lighting a couch on fire
A big moment in any student-athlete’s career is announcing what school they’re committing to, and I don’t think you’re going to find an announcement better than one we’ve got coming from one of the newest West Virginia Mountaineers.
What’s that smell? It… it smells like a couch burning to the sounds of the Mountaineers’ beloved John Denver “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
You bet your sweet a– that’s what it is.
There’s a growing chance that any recruit who lights a couch on fire is going to end up wearing one of these. (Photo by Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Ethan Lawson is a 6’6″, 300-lb offensive lineman and part of the 2027 recruiting class.
THE 2007 MOUNTAINEERS REMAIN COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S GREATEST ‘WHAT-IF’ STORY NEARLY TWO DECADES LATER
According to Sport Illustrated he has fielded offers from a bunch of programs including Appalachian State, Liberty, Air Force, Army, Navy, Duke, Wake Forest, UConn and more.
But, they all missed out because Lawson posted his decision on X, and well… I think he was always West Virginia material.
Bobcat Goldthwait was burning couches on camera before it was cool.
But, alright, there’s no doubt about it: someone is about to sell some jerseys.
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
And if there’s not a furniture store in Morgantown that brings in Lawson and fellow offensive line recruit Kevin Brown (who also lit a couch on fire because that’s becoming a thing) for an ad, then… then, well, I don’t know what, but it would be quite the missed opportunity.
It’s early, but Rich Rodriguez’s West Virginia Mountaineers lead college football in recruits burning couches. (Ben Queen-Imagn Images)
Hey, like it or not, sometimes in the age of NIL it can be a popularity contest. If fans like you, it could mean greater visibility and more lucrative deals. Perhaps that was the mission here, and we all know it worked.
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I refuse to believe any Mountaineers fans saw that video, heard the song and then didn’t reflexively raise a beer (even if they didn’t realize they were drinking one and say, “Hell yeah, brother.”)
We’ll see if the sort of thing translates onto the field, but even if it doesn’t, I feel like there’s money to be made making appearances and lighting furniture on fire at frat parties.
BRISTOL, Va. (WCYB) — Crews put out a house fire in Bristol, Virginia, on Wednesday morning, according to officials.
The Bristol, Virginia Fire Department was dispatched at 3:09 a.m. for the fire in the 900 block of Vermont Avenue. The house was unoccupied at the time fire crews arrived on the scene.
Firefighters encountered heavy smoke and flames in the front of the house. They were able to quickly extinguish the fire under challenging conditions. The fire scene remains active and an investigation is underway. No injuries have been reported.
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