As a 5-year-old, Maurice Veney was more interested in WWE than football. But his brother played football, so Maurice wanted to play, too.
At a practice one day, Maurice saw a practice dummy, and he wanted to spear it like then-WWE star Dave Bautista. Maurice's parents called the youth coach over.
"Go ahead, son, spear the bag," Darrell Veney, Maurice's father, told him.
Maurice yelled, "Spear!" then picked up the dummy and slammed it on the ground.
That was enough to get him a spot on the football team.
Maurice's journey in football has not been linear. He stopped the sport for a time, then when he decided to play college ball, he first decided on Army, then changed course to Division II Morehouse, before landing with Vanderbilt football.
Now a tight
end for the Commodores (3-4, 0-4 SEC), Veney has two catches for 65 yards this season and also serves as a key blocker as Vanderbilt is set to take on No. 12 Kentucky (6-1, 4-1) at Kroger Field on Oct. 24 (6:30 p.m. CT, SEC Network).
How Maurice Veney turned to boxing for a time
Veney, currently 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, was always big for his age. His coaches wanted him to play with progressively older kids, but his parents were wary because they used profanity and were into things the Veneys didn't want their son exposed to. So they pulled him out of football and put him in boxing.
"I actually really enjoyed boxing," Veney told The Tennessean. "If I wasn't playing football, I'd probably be boxing still."
Despite his size, Veney was never particularly interested in hurting anyone. His youth football coaches sometimes asked him why he was soft on his own teammates and had to explain to him that the opponent wouldn't go soft on them, so he couldn't, either.
But two years after dropping football, he started it back up and got serious about playing in college. During one high school game his freshman year, his parents recalled a time when Veney got a chance to play defense.
He got a sack and a fumble recovery, but while making a tackle, he dislocated his elbow and had to go to the hospital.
Andria, Maurice's mother, was on the phone with him while at work, making sure everything was OK.
"He was just so excited that he finally got to play defense," Andria said.
Why Maurice Veney originally decided on Army
Veney was an offensive lineman in high school and was recruited by a handful of FBS schools. Originally, Army caught his eye.
"Army just felt like the best fit, being an offensive lineman, they're really run-heavy," he said.
He ended up committing, but he didn't enroll immediately. Instead, he did a year at the U.S. Military Academy Prep School, which is for students who need to improve their academics or physical fitness before enrolling at West Point. The school's football team plays other prep schools, junior colleges and Army's junior varsity team.
Veney had to go through basic training, which led to him losing 50 pounds, going from 300 pounds to 250.
"Once football was dying down, and we were just getting into the regular life, I kind of lost the love of wanting to be there," he said. "My mom would call me and say that the color of my face is draining, because she could see I wasn't enjoying my actual life there outside of football."
Veney decided to go somewhere else, but without any actual college film, there was little interest from FBS programs. Instead, he enrolled at Morehouse College, an all-male Division II HBCU in Atlanta.
It was a bit of a culture shock. The facilities were a step down, and the program finished 1-9 in each of his first two seasons.
"At Morehouse, you're basically relying on yourself to get everything that you need," he said.
But the coaches at Morehouse had an idea that changed Veney's career: Moving him to tight end.
How move to tight end helped Maurice Veney advance career
Terance Mathis, who was the coach at Morehouse in 2024 and 2025, remembers one walkthrough where Veney did a windmill dunk, and a practice where he did a backflip. That was when he knew he was dealing with a different sort of athlete.
"He was a great blocker," Mathis said. " . . . What he got better at was route running or understanding where he was supposed to be, and then after catching the ball."
In 2025, his third season with the program and first as a primary starter, Veney was second on Morehouse with 381 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
His journey to Vanderbilt began with a serendipitous stroke. Veney signed with an agency when he entered the transfer portal out of Morehouse. His agent had been representing a teammate, but liked what he saw from Veney, too.
Veney's film got in the hands of the Commodores' staff, who also liked what they saw.
His parents were on vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, when they got a call from their son.
"We've got to go to Vanderbilt, to Tennessee," Andria recalls Maurice saying.
"We're in Punta Cana, we can't do that," Andria responded.
Instead, Veney went on his visit and video-called his parents. He knew at the time that Vanderbilt was where he wanted to be. He had set up visits with other schools, including Baylor, but ultimately didn't take them.
How Maurice Veney has found his place with Vanderbilt
The first time Veney played at FirstBank Stadium, he stood on the field and looked into the stands.
"I've never played in a stadium with this many people in it," he thought.
He'll scroll through Instagram sometimes and see videos about Vanderbilt. No matter how good or bad, Veney said he was awed by how many people were watching.
Even though he is not Vanderbilt's top receiving option, he serves as a key blocker in the offense. Most of all, he has gotten to live out his dream of playing SEC football, and shown that players from all levels can play.
"I'm appreciative of all the things that we have here," Veney said.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Maurice Veney's road to Vanderbilt football included Army prep school, Division II
