Vanderbilt Head Coach Clark Lea's football helmet from when he was a player is displayed during the Vanderbilt interviews in the Hyatt Regency at SEC Media Days in Hoover, Ala., Wednesday, July 21, 2021. [Staff Photo/Gary Cosby Jr.] Sec Media Days Vanderbilt
Mike Wright, Vanderbilt’s quarterback for 2 SEC wins this season, is reportedly ticketed for the transfer portal, Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports reported.
Wright is a former 3-star recruit and began the season as Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback before the the Commodores benched him for true freshman AJ Swann. Wright then became the starter again when Swann suffered multiple injuries late in the campaign. Wright completed 57% of his passes this season for 974 yards, 12 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. In wins over Kentucky and Florida, Wright had 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Wright is from Fayetteville, Georgia (Woodward Academy).
Last season, Wright started 5 of the last 6 games of the season when he took over for the injured Ken Seals, as Wright appeared in 10 of 12 games. He made his first start at South Carolina, completing 11-of-21 passes for 206 yards while rushing for another 43 yards.
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I was impressed with wright. He’s shown flashes of ability that couldn’t be utilized at Vandy. Excited to see how his story plays out.
I wonder if he will have a tuff time finding a new home coming from Vandy.
Really? What’s the knock? Every team that looks at him will say ‘He’s got talent. If only he were surrounded by better players like ours … ‘
Now will they be right? I don’t know. Lea’s making measureable progress in Year 2 and finished strong.
There goes my Fun and Gun idea. Dang.
Even Spurrier didn’t run the Fun and Gun at SC. It was very much a function of its time and place … and the brilliance and courage of a coach to run it in the early 90s SEC where they said it couldn’t be done.
Elements could be carried over (it was heavily Run and Shoot influenced) but as a system it’s not serviceable anymore (mostly because it’s protections were too few and too simple).
There are other contrarian approaches available, which is what an underdog needs (VU should have gone all-in on the Air Raid about 20 years ago when it was new). But the FnG isn’t the answer.
I thought he was impressive on and off the field. I wish him all the best.