Vanderbilt Lands Key 3-Star Nashville DT Brandon Adams

Written by Ryan Wright

Football is a game of inches won up front on both the offensive and defensive sides if the ball. In the SEC, where every team can run the ball, a true running stopping defensive tackle is worth said recruit’s weight in gold. On Monday the Commodores got a key verbal commitment when Brandon Adams said he was staying home for college.

Adams is the very idea of a prototypical defensive tackle/nose guard. Listed at 6’2”, 320 pounds, the Brentwood area resident came up with 39 tackles, 8.0 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and even snared a pass out of the sky as a junior in 2014.

Offers started coming in from Kansas, Samford, Navy, Furman, and Western Kentucky. Vanderbilt was able to keep the backyard talent at home becoming the 10th verbal commitment to their 2016 recruiting class.

Knowing Derek Mason is a defensive minded head coach, seeing an early emphasis placed up front on defense is not surprising. The Commodores now have three commitments on the defensive front with Adams joining Cameron Tidd and Drew Birchmeier.

Vanderbilt 2016 Verbal Commitment List
CB Frank Coppet, 6’0”, 180 lbs, St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Fort Lauderdale, FL
SS Austin Quillen, 6’0”, 192 lbs, Jenks HS, Jenks, OK
DT Brandon Adams, 6’2”, 320 lbs, Brentwood Academy, Brentwood, TN
DT Drew Birchmeier, 6’4”, 275 lbs, Cosby HS, Midlothian, VA
DT Cameron Tidd, 6’3”, 265 lbs, Center Grove HS, Greenwood, IN
OT Devin Cochran, 6’7”, 300 lbs, Greater Atlanta Christian, Norcross, GA
QB Deuce Wallace, 6’2”, 204 lbs, Sevier County HS, Sevierville, TN
RB Sam Brodner, 5’10”, 210 lbs, Glenbard West HS, Glen Ellyn, IL
TE Turner Cockrell, 6’5”, 210 lbs, Allatoona HS, Acworth, GA
WR Donaven Tennyson, 5’11”, 170 lbs, Benedictine School, Richmond, VA

Photo credit: vucommodores.com; Vanderbilt fans cheer on the Commodores on the Star Walk.