Mason: Commodores will do more than compete

HOOVER, Ala. -- For those who expect Vanderbilt to remain at the bottom of the SEC East after winning a combined seven games in his first two seasons, Coach Derek Mason has a warming.

"I believe the winds of change are coming," Mason said at SEC media days. "As my leadership has grown, their leadership has grown.

The idea of who we stand for, what we need to do in the midst of playing in this conference, moving towards being not just competitive, but winning games, is the ultimate goal for this team, and that's where we plan on being in 2016."

The Commodores ended a stretch of recording losing records in 28 of 29 seasons when James Franklin led them to nine-victory seasons in 2012 and 2013 and bowl games in three consecutive seasons to bring the school's bowl count to seven.

Mason wasn't able to feed off Franklin's successin his first two seasons, posting records of 3-9 and 4-8, but he said he believes better days are in the near future.

"This football team knows how to compete, OK," Mason said. "It's not about competing anymore, it's about winning."

The Commodores were good enough defensively to rank sixth in the SEC and 28th in the country, allowing 350.5 yards per game.

This, after Mason took over the defensive play-calling himself in 2015 after he fired defensive coordinator David Kotulski.

"I think people sort of looked at me a year ago and thought that I was kind of crazy for going back and calling defenses, but that's my wheelhouse," Mason said. "I'm a head coach who understands exactly what his strengths are."

The Commodores yielded more than 19 points on five occasions, and their scoring defense through 11 games was 16.5 points, before dropping losing 53-28 to Tennessee in the season finale to finish at just under 20.0 points per game.

Vanderbilt junior linebacker Oren Burks said Mason has one of the nation's greatest defensive minds.

"We've only used a percentage of the tools that he has in his toolbox, but I'm excited to see what he does next year," Burks said.

"Coach Mason drives it in to us to have that 'destination defense,' that relentless defense,' " said junior linebacker Zach Cunningham. "That is what he preaches to us. Go out there and try to dominate, come out every week and enforce our will on every opponent."

Running back Ralph Webb is back after rushing for 1,152 yards, but Vanderbilt must present a more dangerous passing attack to balance out its offense under coordinator Andy Ludwig.

Kyle Shurmur, a 6-4, 225-pound sophomore, is expected to take the reins of a Commodores offense that has had a revolving door at quarterback much of the past few years.

Shurmur completed 44 of 103 passes (42.7 percent) in five games last year, but he impressed in the spring.

"He showed great character and leadership in the offseason," Mason said.

The Commodores also have experienced receivers, led by Trent Sherfield (51-569-3), Caleb Scott (24-339-2) and Darrius Sims (10-110-0). Running back Webb (24-188-2) also contributed in the passing game.

Vanderbilt will play six home games and six road games, a rarity for an SEC team, including nonconference road trips to Georgia Tech and Western Kentucky.

The Commodores open the year with a Thursday night game for the fifth season in a row, this time a conference opener at home against South Carolina and first-year head coach Will Muschamp.

"It's important to get the ball rolling, get momentum going and get the W," Webb said.

Sports on 07/18/2016